CSI: Survivor Style
by imaginejorja
Summary: CH 14 Up. The gang head on over to Canada to compete in the International CSI Outward Bound Competition and find themselves dropped in the middle of the wilderness, having to raid enemy camps and make dirty plans to win the money for their lab. They bond.
1. Chapter 1

CSI: Survivor Style

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine – no, really, you thought they were? Huh. Right.

Summary: The gang head on over to Canada to compete in the International CSI Outward Bound Competition and find themselves dropped in the middle of the wilderness, having to raid enemy camps and make dirty plans to win the money for their lab. They bond.

A/N: This idea came about after watching Survivor, though since then it's sort of strayed from the original plot I'd thought up. The concept is still there, however, and thus the title. Many thanks to Ash and Amorith, who despite their busy schedules have managed to show me once again what awesome betarerer's they are. Oh yeah, I love it when people review…

Sunday – Day 1, 00:47 

Sara sighed and squinted through the darkness.  From her position in the treetops she was fairly certain that she'd be able to see any unwelcome movement around their campsite without anyone realising she was up there watching.  She'd been on sentry duty for precisely three hours and she found it a challenge to keep up her concentration when nothing appeared to be happening. She knew, however, that as soon as she dropped her guard or began to drift off that that was when one of the other teams would strike. It was her sense of pride that wouldn't allow their camp to be over taken when she was on guard. So, instead of closing her eyes and risking a little 'nap' she shifted on the small platform in the tree and breathed in the fresh Canadian air to waken herself up.

They'd arrived one-day prior, after they'd each worked a triple shift to finish up all the cases they'd been working on. To say they were tired when they finally arrived would be the understatement of the year. 

Although it was technically a game everyone who was involved in the CSI Outward Bound Competition knew that winning was the only option.  This was the first year that the project was up and running and the prize money given to the winning lab was too good to say no to. Thus was the reason that Gil Grissom insisted that he, Sara Sidle, Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes and even DNA specialist Greg Sanders, would be the ones to represent the Las Vegas CSI's.  The Sheriff had agreed they were the best group for the job and had gone to certain measures to ensure that the entire team had finished their cases in time and weren't assigned to any new ones before they left.  

After the teams' initial excitement had died down they all realised the enormous amount of pressure that they had resting upon their shoulders, and after hearing exactly what they were in for they'd all become a little nervous.

The competition, it turned out, had nothing to do with being the 'better' CSI team – but focussed more on their ability to work together, as a group, and achieve the best results – in the middle of the British Columbian wilderness.  They were competing against three other teams and had been dropped off in the middle of nowhere and told to set up camp.  They were given a number of different 'treasures' that they would have to guard for the week.  The idea of the game was for each team to find and retrieve as many of the other teams' treasures as possible by the end of the seven-day period. The rules were blurred at best – basically it was 'play as dirty or as clean as you like' but the team with the most amount of treasures at the end of the week was the winner.  Half of the challenge was to find where the other teams were camped out and the other half, the half that Sara was most intrigued by, was how to invade the camps and steal their treasures without the enemy team realising what was going on.  It was a physical competition, but it was also intellectual and despite her nervousness, Sara was looking forward to the action. She was also a little surprised that Grissom had actually decided to enter it.   

Once they arrived at what they thought was a good place to set up their base-camp, they propped up their two tents and went hunting for some firewood.  Their treasures; a team flag, a couple of region maps, a cooking pot and a stack of water guns that Greg was incredibly impressed by, had been kept under close guard since they'd received them.  Sara thought the guns were cute, but didn't really see what use they would be but Greg had looked at her incredulously and said 'Are you kidding? These'll win the game for us!'  Sara had been too tired to argue by that stage and simply shrugged at him.  

Each team had a different set of treasures except for the flag.  The treasures were identified as such because of a small team sticker that had been placed on each of the items.  The flags didn't need a sticker – it was fairly obvious that they were worth the most points. 

After they settled in they decided that lighting a fire while it was still light enough to see the smoke was a bad idea and so they sat around the unlit fire drinking cold coco-coco.  Then Nick had looked around and told them he felt like someone was watching them.  They immediately felt creeped out by that and had decided that they needed someone on sentry duty to make sure their camp was still a secret.  They created a warning bell too so that if the person on sentry saw someone snooping around close to them, they'd be able to pull on a rope and alert the rest of the group at camp that someone was near. Nick, Warrick and Greg had done that and were really quite proud.  

Once they were organised and felt a little safer sitting around the unlit campfire with Greg up in a tree on look out, they began to brainstorm ideas on how to get the other teams' treasures.  They had no idea where the other groups were based but they had maps and a compass and felt pretty confident that if they went trekking then they'd know – or find out - where they were on the map, and hence have more of an idea where the other teams were likely to be.  The sun had gone down fairly quickly after that and Warrick and Sara lit the fire while Grissom and Nick tried to find some decent food in their packs for dinner.  Catherine went to keep Greg company.  They'd eaten and Sara had volunteered to do sentry while the other's staggered away to bed.

She didn't expect to see anyone while she sat up there in the tree.  It was the first night, after all, and if the other teams were anything like them they wouldn't be all that enthusiastic about making any raids or traipsing around the unfamiliar forest in the dark.  But after checking her watch for the fifth time in half an hour and wondering when a good time would be to go and wake Grissom to tell him it was his turn to keep watch, she did see a dark moving shadow. Her breath caught in her throat and she froze like a rabbit caught in a spotlight; paralysed in an irrational moment of fear. She was just about to reach for the rope to alert the rest of her group down in the camp when she realised that the dark shape wasn't moving towards them – it was moving towards her, and it was coming from the direction of the camp.  She breathed a little easier and then smiled when she heard the figure stumble over the root of a tree, curse, and then whisper a small "Sara?"

"You're going to have to work on your stealthiness Grissom, if we're going to have any chance of winning this thing," she whispered back.

"Very funny," he muttered and worked his way more purposely towards her.  He reached the tree and began to climb it awkwardly, using the hand and foot holds that Warrick, Nick and Greg had made.  When he reached the small slab of wood that the boys had put up as a platform, Sara reached out and helped him the rest of the way.

They sat there for a moment while Grissom got his breath back and Sara became a little nervous about being so alone with him.  It was one thing being alone with him at work, being busy and distracted, but it was a completely different thing to be alone with him, up a tree, in the middle of the night, somewhere in the Canadian wilderness.  Somehow, the fact that there was no ground directly beneath her feet made her a little concerned.  She wondered briefly if she'd do too much damage to her ankles if the tension became so incredibly hard to bear that she found herself simply jumping off the platform to get away from the awkwardness.

"Can't sleep?" she asked him quietly.

He shrugged, "I did for a little bit, but knowing you're going to have to wake up in a little bit doesn't really help."

She nodded, wondering if she was expected to leave now that he was here to take over.  She wasn't sure if he had noticed the tension between them lately – if it were anyone else she'd be positive they'd have noticed it by now.  But Grissom was different – he didn't really notice things like that, or if he did they didn't seem to bother him as much.

She struggled to find something to talk about. Anything was better than silence. "So," she began, "was it just the money that made you decide to do this?"

Grissom gave her a sideways glance whilst tightening his lips together and she immediately realised the answer.

Her nervousness gone, she jumped on him "What? You mean this wasn't about the money to you?"

Grissom raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth, searching for the right words to use.  "Well, the money will be very good for the lab, of course…"

"But…" she searched his face with her eyes, "There's something else."

Grissom sighed, "Yes, there's something else."  

He wondered if he should tell her that Brass had scolded him like a disappointed mother because of his apparent lack of interest in what was going on in his CSI's lives.  The conversation had been quite startling for Grissom who had been quite content to travel along in his own little world, quite oblivious to anyone else's problems.  But Brass had shocked him, told him that there were certain members on his staff who were losing it and if he didn't wake up and acknowledge it then one day he'd find himself interviewing fresh-out-of-college rookies to replace his team. Grissom had sent him a confused stare and Brass had asked him a series of rhetorical questions. "Has Greg stopped shaking like a leaf every time he goes near the lab?  Is Warrick really content with the job he's doing? How's Catherine's relationship with her kid going?" And then the one that had sent a shiver of ice down the back of his neck, "What does Sara do when she goes home at the end of shift, Grissom?"  Grissom had stared at him, unable to give an answer to any of those questions.  "Look," Brass had said, "These people aren't super heroes Grissom – they need a break. And far be it for me to tell you what you need, but I think you should take one too." Brass had gone on to tell him about the competition and Grissom had mentioned it to the Sheriff. The sheriff had not been too impressed, however when Grissom mentioned the prize money he suddenly had a change of heart.

"I just thought we could all use a bit of a break from the horror's of Vegas," Grissom answered Sara quietly.

Sara was a little surprised. But, she reminded herself, Grissom could be full of surprises every now and then.  

After a little while of sitting next to each other on the small platform without either uttering any other words, Sara made to get up.  "Well, I think I'm going to go to bed, good night Grissom."

"Good night Sara," he watched her clamber down the tree trunk and disappear gracefully into the shadows in the direction of their camp.

Monday – Day 2, 09:05 

She woke up with a pain in the side of her hip and rolled clumsily off it to try and ease the pressure.

"Hey!" a muffled warning startled her and she realised that she'd just rolled over next to Catherine, squashing her against the side of their tent.

"Sorry," Sara mumbled back and shifted again, "I've been sleeping with this rock in my hip the whole night."

"You were sleeping? Lucky you," Catherine replied dryly and rolled over to face the brunette. "I can't remember ever having a worse night."

Sara grinned at her, "Oh I've had worse, but damn we're going to have to move this tent if I don't want to wake up with a bruise the size of Texas on my hip each morning. Or I suppose if you don't want me lying on top of you all night, you'd probably make an alright mattress."

"Thanks," Catherine replied sarcastically and groaned, "I suppose we're going to have to get up."

"Hmm," Sara agreed non-committaly and rolled onto her stomach. 

A loud male voice on the other side of the thin tent made them both jump, "Come on ladies! This isn't a holiday, this is war!"

"Go away Greg," Catherine and Sara groaned simultaneously.

Greg, having already done his sentry duty before dinner the previous night had had the most sleep out of all of them.

"Watch out Greggo," they heard Nick warn him, "From personal experience I can tell you that when these girls are tired, they're grumpy!" 

"Oh I know Nick, I know," Greg said in an overly serious tone, "The stories I could tell you…"

The next voice was slightly muffled and came from the direction of the guy's tent, "If you guys don't shut up I'm getting a helicopter out here and sending you both back to Vegas."

There was a moment of silence followed closely by two shameful apologies, "Sorry Grissom."

"Yeah, sorry – forgot you were still sleeping."

Sara grinned at Catherine and mouthed 'dog house' to her.  Catherine grinned back but was interrupted by a large yawn escaping her mouth.

"You want coffee?" Sara offered quietly.

"That would be fantastic," Catherine said hopefully.

"No problem," Sara began to wriggle out of her sleeping bag and made her way out of the tent and into the fresh morning air.  She breathed in deeply and squinted against the glaring morning sun.

"Well well," Nick began and then cast a guilty look towards the tent, which currently housed Grissom.

Sara grinned at him, "Morning," she said quietly, "You got any coffee out here yet?"

"Just boiling some water now," he said as he poked at the small remnants of last nights fire.  The coals were still hot enough to heat the pot full of water that sat atop, but there was no danger of them sending out a smoke signal in the morning light.

"Here," Greg handed her a cup and sat down on the log next to Nick.

"Thanks, got another?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

"Sure," he said and produced another cup from somewhere between himself and Nick.

A little more awake than she was when she first exited her tent, Sara took in her surroundings with a little more interest. They'd found a small clearing to set up their base camp in, though there were a few random trees that kept the area from being completely bare.  She and Warrick had done a good job creating the fire and there was a small area that had been cleared around it, complete with a couple of fallen logs for them to use as seats.  The two tents were pitched next to each other and Sara suddenly realised just how cramped the guys' tent had probably been last night.  She looked at Greg beside her; rugged up in a fur coat over his flannel pyjama's, feet snug in his moccasins, hair hidden by the black beanie he wore.  

Beside Greg, Nick was actually dressed, but only because he'd just finished his own sentry duty.  He wore sturdy black boots and a baseball cap, backwards.

She grinned to herself; they were so endearing.  She wondered if she looked as battered and worn-in as they did and realised that with her jacket over her own flannel pyjama's, worn in rain boots and black beanie she probably did.  If this was them after one night of camping she wondered what they'd look like at the end of the week and smiled at the mental picture that formed in her mind.

Greg handed her the coffee, "Sorry – not up to my usual standard but sometime's you just have to make the sacrifice."

"Thanks Greg," she said as she took the coffee and made up the two cups.  She picked up one and headed back to her tent. "Knock knock," she said as she squatted down and began to crawl through the small door.  

Catherine sat up in her sleeping bag and stretched out for the coffee, "Oh thank you," she cooed and grinned at Sara.

"No problem," Sara grinned back and left the tent to pick up the other cup she'd left by the fire.  She walked over to the guy's tent and quickly looked back at Greg and Nick who were watching her closely.

"Uh, Grissom?" she started quietly, "I've made you some coffee – if you want some."

She heard a grunt and took it for a 'why yes Sara, thank you that would be lovely' and unzipped the fly.

She crawled in as Grissom was sitting up, still obviously very sleepy.  His hair was tousled and his eyes were not completely open yet.  She grinned and held out the coffee towards him, "Don't get too used to this," she warned him.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he slurred slightly and then focussed on her, "Thank you."

"No problem," she said simply and began to crawl back out again.

"Hey," Grissom called her back and she sat again and looked at him. "Have we got a plan for today?"

"I think we decided that we should try and work out where we are on the maps we have and then cover as much land as possible to rule out any area's the other teams might be occupying."

Grissom nodded, "Okay, we should probably start that as soon as possible. I'll just finish this," he lifted his coffee, "And then we'll start to get organised – work out exactly who's going and who's staying. What do you want to do?"

"Uh – go explore, definitely," she grinned.

Grissom nodded, "Thought so. I'll be out in a minute, we should get away soon." 

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Thanks heaps to my beta's who actually got this back to me sooner than now, but I've been having major issues with my computer… gah damn viruses.  Thanks to everyone who's already given me feedback on the first chapter, I hope you all enjoy this one. 

p/p

Monday – Day 2, 12:03 

She hoisted her pack on her shoulders for the fifth time in 20 minutes and looked up at the treetops surrounding them.  She turned her attention back down towards Greg as he dropped his pack and edged towards the bank of the small river they had come across.

"I guess we don't have to worry about water anymore," he said, looking back at her.

"You know, I didn't even think of that last night – how much have we got back at camp?"

"Enough for a couple of days, if we're careful – but I think they were betting on us finding this.  I don't think having six people from Vegas dying of thirst during the first instalment of the 'CSI's Outward Bound Competition' would be great PR for them somehow," he bent down over his pack and rummaged around until he produced one of their maps.

"Well, we've definitely narrowed it down," Sara said, coming to stand next to him.

She'd been paired with Greg earlier in the day. Their mission; find out where the hell they were.  When they worked that out, they would be able to safely navigate through the forest to find the other groups.  But until they worked out where they were stationed, any mindless wandering would just get them lost. Back at base camp, Grissom, Warrick and Catherine were supposed to be devising strategies and plans to invade the enemy camps once they found them, while Nick sat on sentry duty up in the tree.

It felt refreshing to get out for a good hike and Sara was enjoying herself.  Greg was good company to be with and he was excellent for the job they were doing.  Every slight incline or decline they hiked over, he made note of.  He constantly checked the compass and the map and he'd been extremely excited when they found the river. 

"Absolutely," he agreed with Sara and pointed to a place on the map, "I think we're in this square here."

"Really? Wow, that's good Greg – this is great," she smiled warmly at him and caught the slight blush that rose to his cheeks. She patted him on the shoulder and walked down to the water's edge.  Looking up and down the bank of the river, Sara realised that if this was supposed to be _their_ main water source, then it was probably the same for the other groups.  Either they were somewhere along this river, or they would be stationed close to the other rivers that ran through the area.  If she was right, it would narrow down their search for the other groups considerably.

"Think you can navigate us back to camp Greggo?" she asked over her shoulder.

"No problem," Greg answered confidently and bent down to grab his pack and swing it on his back.

"Good – because we've just solved 25% of the problem," she grinned at him.

"Let's hope our geniuses back at camp have done as well as us in their planning."  

**

"I don't know if Sara would go for that," Catherine said to Warrick and then frowned, "You know, I don't know if _I_ would go for that either come to think of it."

"Oh, come on Cat – war is war. I can guarantee that each and every one of us is going to have to do something they don't like in order to help us win this game," Warrick tried to reason with her.

Grissom sat across from them on the other side of the unlit fire, "If you're not comfortable with it, we'll think of something else," he said.  "Besides – it might not even work."

Catherine raised her eyebrows at him, "And why wouldn't it work?"

Grissom sighed and Warrick smiled.  Even when Grissom was trying to be a gentleman he screwed it up.

"I just mean that we're completely guessing that there will be a team out here completely comprised of men – what if there's an all-female team?" Grissom tried to explain.

"Well then you and Warrick and Nicky and Greg will be very happy then won't you?" Catherine replied coyly.  "And anyway, chances are there _are_ women on each team – we'll have to get some of you boys to try it out too."

Warrick nodded, "That's true.  Hey, I'll volunteer," he grinned.

Catherine shook her head at him and smiled, "Sure you will – but you're only supposed to _pretend_ that you're interested in them to lure them away, not actually _be _interested."

Warrick feigned innocence, "Hey! I'm offended by that!"

Grissom looked at his watch, "I'd better go relieve Nick," he said and stood up.

Catherine gave him a dirty look, "You just don't want to be here when we tell Sara," she accused.

Grissom smiled, "Do you blame me?"

***

Sara and Greg arrived back at camp a couple of hours later, their backs sore from carrying their packs on their hike but still quite energised due to figuring out exactly where they were on their maps.

"Great work guys!" Nick said enthusiastically as they sat down and joined the others in a late lunch.

Greg and Sara grinned back at him.  "So how have you guy's been going here?"

"Well," Catherine began, "We've come up with one idea – but until we actually suss out all the camps we won't really know how we're going to invade them.  We'll have to see them first before we can make a decision on what to do."

Sara nodded, "Yeah I was thinking the same thing – but you've still got ideas don't you?"

Warrick figured getting it over and done with would be best.  Rip the band-aid off quickly and the pain was barely noticeable.  Right.  "We think it'll be hard to invade their camp while they're still in there lying around or whatever.  So we're going to have to lure some of them out to get their numbers down and reduce the chance of them seeing us."

"So how are we going to do that?" Greg asked.

"Well we have two very fine women here," Warrick grinned, "Chances are we've got some frustrated men who are looking for a good time…"

"You're not serious," Sara looked at Warrick and then turned towards Catherine, "Are you serious?"

Greg began to laugh, "This is great!"

"We don't have to do anything Sara, just 'accidentally' bump into them and make like we're interested.  Organise to meet them somewhere and then raid their camp when they've left to come see us."

Sara studied Catherine and smiled, "Okay – sure, no problem."

Nick raised his eyebrows, "Really? We didn't think you'd go for it."

"Sure why not?" 

"Excellent," Warrick said and clapped his hands together.  "Well that's one idea, the other is a series of diversions that we can create to get them rushing out of their camp."

"We could pretend to make a partnership with one of the teams. Gain their trust and then feed them disinformation to get them out of their camp one night when they think they're going to raid another…" Greg thought out loud.

"That's good," Warrick said, impressed, "I like that – we'd have to be smart about it though."

Sara nodded, "I don't think we should ever leave the camp with less than two people here to stay on guard."

"Agreed," Catherine said and nodded.

They all grinned at each other.  "This is fun."

***

Sara clambered up the sentry-tree and awkwardly pulled herself up to sit next to Grissom.  "Hey," she breathed and smiled at him.

"Hi, how did it go?"

"Great, Greg is a master at cartography!"

Grissom smiled and nodded, "That doesn't surprise me much."

"I uh, I heard about the plan you guys decided on. The one where Catherine and I flaunt ourselves in the hope of luring the libidinous men away from their camp?" 

Grissom looked at her and tried to work out whether she was pissed off at the idea or was just playing with him to get a reaction. "I – uh… You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

Sara raised a single eyebrow at him, "Do you think it will work?"

"You mean will the men go for it? Sure, I think so," Grissom said and nodded.

"Really?" He could feel her eyes' searching his face and wondered what she was thinking.

"Of course they would Sara, look at you," he grinned at her.

Sara puffed out a small laugh, "Oh yeah – old jeans, old t-shirt, no make-up, no shower… I've never been more beautiful!"

He studied her and couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips.  She looked happy and relaxed in her old camping clothes and Nick's backwards hat – and he couldn't remember a time when he found her any more attractive than right then in that moment.

He shrugged and threw her a grin, "It'll work Sara.  Trust me."

Sara grinned back – it was as near as Grissom was going to go to saying he thought she was beautiful for today and she was quite content with his implication.

"The other's are going to go and do a bit of hunting for the other camps and wanted to know if you're going," she told him.

"You're not going?"

"Well Greg and I said we'd watch over the camp since we got to go for a hike this morning," she explained.

Grissom nodded, "Okay, yeah I wouldn't mind getting out of here – sentry duty is probably the dullest experience I've ever encountered."

Sara nodded, "Yeah, tell me about it.  Well, they're getting ready to go now… oh and I'd head to the river, east of here, and have a look up and down the banks of it to see if there's any sign of human activity.  I've got a feeling they'll have dumped us all near a main water source."

Grissom nodded and began to climb down the tree.

"Oh, and try and get rid of your tracks down by the river if you do go down there. Chances are that someone else has thought the same thing," she called to him as he reached the bottom.

"Yes ma'am," he answered quietly before grinning up at her jokingly pouty face and hurrying off towards their camp.

Monday – Day 2, 16:24 

Grissom and the others had been gone about three hours before Sara saw any movement in the trees surrounding their camp.  She had expected them to be gone longer than three hours and squinted carefully at the dark shapes moving towards her.  It was hard to be sure, but it looked liked there was 5 people, maybe more.  She hesitantly reached out for the rope to alert Greg who she'd left down in their camp, reading a book next to their unlit fire. When she heard a laugh she didn't recognise, she tugged hard on the rope and hoped to God that Greg hadn't fallen asleep.

She cursed to herself as she scrambled down the trunk of the tree and tore a gash in her hand.  Ignoring it, she started to trek in a wide circle towards their camp, going as fast as she could and trying her hardest not to make any sound.  It was possible that the group of people would walk straight past their camp without even realising it was there – from what she could tell they didn't appear to have a purposeful direction they were taking.  They looked to her as if they were meandering around, not really expecting to find anything.  Still, she had to get back to their camp before they could have a chance of stumbling into it.

She came bursting into the small clearing, startling Greg who was tearing down their tents and stuffing them into some packs.  They had decided that once someone had rung the bell from the tree that the people down in the camp would pack up absolutely everything and stake the place out from a hidey-hole they'd found not too far past the first line of trees that surrounded them.  That had seemed like a manageable task for five people to do quickly, but it had only been Greg who was there when Sara had rung the bell and he had to take the initiative to start packing everything up on his own.

After calming from his initial shock of Sara's arrival he finished pulling down the second tent and closed the pack he had stuffed it into.

"What is it?" he hissed at her as they both began to pick up the odds and ends that littered the area around their fire.

"Five or more, I didn't really get a good look at them," she panted back and tried desperately to scatter the remains of last night's fire around the place so it wouldn't be obvious that there had been a fire there.  It was fairly useless – it was obvious to Sara there had been a fire there, she just hoped these people were severely dumb and un-knowledgeable about camping.  She grabbed two packs and sprinted towards their hidey-hole, throwing them in before running back to Greg who was picking up the last of the annoying objects on the ground.  She glanced around and, making sure they left nothing behind, grabbed one pack and Greg's arm and raced back to the hidey-hole.

They made it just in time.  They sat there, breathing hard, watching the clearing as the group of six people swaggered into the open space.  The people looked relieved when they entered the clearing and Sara wondered how long they'd been wandering around in the dense forest for.  They looked around and stopped, dropping their packs from their backs.  A couple of them sat down, the others began to wander around the clearing – vaguely inspecting each corner of it.

"What do you think Jim?" the one woman asked a man with a dark moustache.

Jim nodded, "Yeah, this is a good place – a hell of a lot better than where we stayed last night!"

"Here here!" one of the other men called from where he sat on his pack.

Jim smiled at him, "Alright, this'll do – set up your tents guys!"

Greg turned to Sara and gave her an incredulous look.  Sara gave him an equally incredulous one back and tried not to burst out laughing. Screw going to search for the other groups; apparently they would just come to them.

"Gee, this looks like a great place for a fire," Greg mocked the intruders quietly before turning to Sara and asking, "What do we do?"

She frowned in thought, "I don't know," she admitted.

"Grissom and the others…"

Sara realised what Greg was implying.  Soon, Grissom and the rest of their group were going to come waltzing back into the clearing, completely unaware that it was now over run by an enemy group.

"Ah shit," she whispered and grinned a little when Greg had to stifle a laugh. "Do you know which way they left?"

Greg nodded, "Yeah this way – they'd have come past this place, but they were going to split up – Grissom and Cat, Warrick and Nick."

Sara sighed, "Okay, we're going to have to do something – we can't just sit here and wait for them to walk into the camp.  They'll ruin a potential invasion."

Greg nodded and looked around anxiously, "They shouldn't be too long… you want to chance a bit of a hike?"

Sara nodded and looked around them at their stash of badly packed packs, "We can't leave these here though, if they stumble over them then we're screwed.  They'll have our treasures without even having to do anything except open these up."

"Put all the treasures in one pack," Greg said and began to quietly rummage through their packs.  Sara nodded and looked back at their former camp.  She didn't know what would happen if they suddenly had to make a run for it but she'd like to have some warning before Jim and his mates came wandering over.

"Okay," Greg whispered to her, "They're all in this one."

Sara nodded and reached over to pull the pack onto her back, "You stay in this area – walk around but stay close, keep an eye on these guys and look out for the others – I'll circle the camp.  If you run into trouble, birdcall me and I'll be over as soon as I can.  I'll make sure I come past you on each round," she got up slowly and backed away from the camp. Glancing one last time at the intruders and shooting a small reassuring grin to Greg, she set off on a wide arc to begin circling the clearing.

On her third round, when she was on the opposite side of the clearing to Greg, she heard a birdcall; a high-pitched caw that made her heart skip a beat.  She stopped immediately and looked around.  All she could see were trees.  She turned towards the clearing and began walking carefully towards it, unconsciously tightening her grip on the straps digging into her shoulders. When she was about 70 meters away she found a thick tree to hug and cautiously poked her head out from around it.  She could just see the beginning of the clearing and the campsite that the intruders were just finishing to set up.  A couple of people sat lazily around, pointing out things that needed to be done but not making any effort to help.  Either they hadn't noticed the birdcall or Greg's impersonation was better than she thought.  She quickly slipped back out of sight and hurried back to Greg.  If he wasn't calling her because he was in trouble, maybe he'd found Grissom and the rest of the team.

Cautiously, she worked her way towards the hidey-hole she'd left Greg in. As she walked towards it she realised that Greg and the packs were no longer there.  She stopped walking and looked nervously around.  Could the people in the camp have caught Greg?  She looked towards the clearing but saw the same lazy picture she'd seen from the opposite side.  No, they definitely hadn't caught him.  She felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle as the fear of being alone in the middle of nowhere, without knowing where any of her friends were began to sink in.

She almost squealed when she felt someone come up from behind her and clasp his or her hand over her mouth.  She began to struggle away from her captor but realised they were whispering something ferverently in her ear.

"Sara, calm down, it's just me – you're making too much noise, Sara! It's Grissom."

When the words sank through her panicked barrier she immediately stopped moving and cast and anxious look towards the clearing.  How much noise had she made?  She heard a wild, howling laugh coming from the camp and someone shouting, 'That's a _classic_ Will!' and breathed a sigh of relief.

She felt Grissom release her and turned around to glare at him, "What did you do that for?" she whispered harshly at him, ignoring her immense relief that she was no longer alone.

He gave her a guilty look, "Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't yell out if I startled you."

She looked at him as if he were crazy and he looked at the ground sheepishly.

"Sorry," he said again and looked around quickly, "The other's are back a bit – come on," he started to move away from her and she followed closely, glancing periodically over her shoulder at the clearing.

Soon Nick, Greg and Catherine came into view and Sara smiled at them warmly.  For some reason she suddenly felt very glad that these were the people she was out here with and had an inexplicable urge to greet them in a clichéd, slow motion reunion hug.  She swallowed the urge and looked around them nervously instead.

"Where's Warrick?" she asked.

"He's gone to get rid of the evidence we left in the sentry tree," Greg informed her.

Sara nodded; feeling bad that she hadn't thought to bring anything with her when she fled the tree but reminded herself that she was needed back at camp and it would have taken too long.

They all sat down carefully, waiting impatiently for Warrick to return.

"What's taking him so long?" Catherine asked, beginning to get worried.

"Relax Cat," Sara reassured her, "He's got to get rid of a lot of evidence, he shouldn't be too much longer."

They waited another five minutes and finally Warrick came walking cautiously towards them.  He looked relieved when he saw them and Sara wondered whether he had also experienced the same urge to hug everyone as she had.  She grinned at him and put her arm around his shoulders as he came and sat next to her on the fallen log.

"So what's the plan?" he asked them quietly.

Sara caught the odd look Grissom was sending her before he opened his mouth to speak, and she returned it with a confused one of her own. He turned away from her, "This is obviously the best opportunity we could have hoped for, but we have to be careful," he said.  "I think we'll have to split up again in order to invade their camp – we can't all go traipsing in there and expect them not to notice their numbers have suddenly doubled.  I think we should keep an eye on them – find out what their security is like, we can do it in shifts – watch them from the hidey-hole. We should wait until they've gone to sleep and then make our move – two at the most.  And the others can be on watch for any signs of them waking up.  One person should stay away from the camp – go down towards the river with our treasures to make sure they're safe."

"Will that be our rendezvous point? The river?" Greg asked and dipped into Sara's pack to pull out the two maps.

"I'm not sure if we should go right to the river, but somewhere near there…"

"How about just here?" Greg said and pointed to a spot on the map. They all peered at it and nodded.

"Sounds good to me," Nick said, "Can you navigate your way there without a map?"

"I'll draw a spare," Greg said and reached into another pack to pull out some paper and a pencil.

"Draw one for each of us if you can," Warrick said and Greg nodded.

"We should be watching them now," Catherine said and looked in the direction of the clearing.

Grissom nodded, "You and Nick want to go and keep watch for now? Take some of this paper and a pen and write down anything – or everything."

Catherine and Nick sped off, leaving Grissom, Sara, Warrick and Greg to make the rest of the plans.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Thanks to everyone who's reviewing – you really have no idea how awesome it is to hear from you all, and to my beta's again because they rock. Monday – Day 2, 24.46 

Sara shivered as a cold breeze ripped through the trees and made her skin pimple and the hairs on her arms stand at attention.

"Cold?" she felt Grissom's warm breath just below her ear.

She nodded and shifted on her stomach.  They were both lying on the forest floor, next to a tall and sturdy tree just at the edge of the clearing. Somehow, they'd been nominated as the two people who would take the biggest risk; sneak into the enemy camp and find as many treasures as they could without waking the now sleeping rival team.

Somewhere on the other side of the clearing, Nick and Warrick were lying in the dirt as well – keeping watch. Catherine was currently helping Greg haul all their packs to their rendezvous point. 

Thanks to the time spent watching their unexpected visitors, they'd learned that they didn't post a guard to watch over the camp at night.  Instead, every now and then one of the team members got up and walked around the camp.  The patrols had been more frequent earlier in the night, but as time went by they realised that there wasn't really a system they were following.  It appeared as if one of the people would simply wake up and decide they should do a bit of a walk around.  Sara was quite pleased that her team had been so security conscious after witnessing this mess.

"Studies show that people are at their weakest between three and four in the morning," Sara whispered to Grissom, "Something tells me these guys work the day shift. They won't be interested in doing a walk-around when it hits three."

Grissom nodded, "Doesn't that mean we're at our weakest too though?"

Sara shrugged, "Probably."

After a while Sara began to cramp up and wriggle around, frustrated at her legs for falling asleep.  

She felt Grissom rest a firm hand on the back of her thigh, "Would you quit it?" he whispered to her.

"Sorry," she whispered back and almost yelped out loud when Catherine came to jump down beside her. She clutched her chest and glared at her, "God Catherine – want to give me a heart attack next time?"

Catherine smirked, "Gee Sara you should really work on your radar there," she teased and looked pointedly at Grissom's hand which still lay resting on Sara's thigh.  "Although maybe you were a little distracted."  Her smirk turned into a full-fledged grin when Grissom snatched his hand away and glared at her.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "We've finished moving the packs – Greg's back at the rendezvous point, I thought you could use an extra pair of eyes."

"Thanks Cath," Sara said and glanced at the camp.

"Two Forty-Five," Grissom breathed, "What do you think?"

Sara thought for a moment and studied the clearing again.  Finally, she nodded, "Let's go, let's do it."

Grissom followed Sara like a shadow. They moved slowly, yet nimbly, out of the tree line and into the clearing. Their hot breath mingled with the cold night air as they nervously creeped closer towards the campfire.  Sara grinned; as per Greg's mockery the new owners had indeed used the same place to put their campfire as she and Warrick had done the night before.

Suddenly they heard a cough from one of the tents and froze instinctively. Grissom grabbed her arm as the sound of a zipper could be heard and pulled her down to the ground behind one of the logs that had been used as a seat next to the fire.  The log didn't provide them with much cover and they squeezed together as close as possible to try and become smaller.

They watched anxiously as a male came lumbering out of the tent and stumbled towards them sleepily.  To their surprise, he walked straight past them and towards the tree line.

Sara sent Grissom a confused stare.  For a fleeting moment she wondered whether it was plausible that this guy was the world's best sleepwalker, then the unmistakable sound of someone urinating reached her ears. She felt like groaning but kept it in by burying her face into Grissom's shoulder.  This was terrible; they were completely stuck.  Once the guy turned around he would surely see them.  She risked a glance in his direction and held her breath as he turned around and began walking back towards his tent.  Again, he walked straight past them without even glancing, and stumbled into his tent.  They heard him sigh heavily, mumble something, and then they were once again plunged into the silence of the night.

They lay there, afraid that if they moved too soon urine-boy would hear them.  They wanted him sound asleep when they were raiding his camp thank you very much. 

It felt like hours to Sara, but after twenty minutes they risked moving.  She crawled forward and eventually found her feet, taking a moment to stand there and listen intently. Hearing nothing but Grissom's breathing, she inched forward – unsure as to where she should start looking.  A couple of packs still lay around on the ground and she shook her head at the groups' laziness.  How did they expect to win this thing with the way they were going?  She moved towards the first pack and bent over it. Behind her, Grissom was examining the objects that surrounded the campfire. 

She opened the pack, thankful for the lack of sound she seemed to be making. The light thrown by the smouldering fire would have to be enough to let her see what each object inside actually was.  She began to sift through the contents.

**

"That was close," Nick whispered to the night after the man re-entered his tent.  He watched as Grissom and Sara stayed pinned against the ground and glanced nervously around.  Warrick was somewhere off to his left but it was too dark to know if he was close.

His heart began to beat faster as he watched Sara rise cautiously to her feet and begin to creep gracefully towards a pack that lay on the ground.  He wondered how she seemed so calm, just walking firmly towards her target without so much of a shake in her legs.  Grissom appeared to be just as calm, methodically searching through the pots and pans that littered the area around the campsite. Nick was nervous just watching.  

He realised to his horror that he was too intent on watching Grissom and Sara's raid and wasn't doing his job properly.  Mentally kicking himself, he began to scan the campsite and the surrounding area for any unwelcome movement.  There was nothing, and he breathed a short-lived sigh of relief.

It was short-lived because suddenly a voice called through the silence of the night.

"Is that you Jen?"

He saw Grissom and Sara freeze what they were doing and turn sharply towards one of the tents.  Grissom started motioning towards Sara, who started motioning back.  He was saying 'yes' and she was adamantly saying 'no'.  Grissom waved his arms in the air one final time, and Nick saw Sara hesitate. 

His blood turned icy cold when he heard Sara call back, "Yeah, sorry – can't I take a pee without letting you know?"

He watched in amazement as Sara turned anxiously back towards Grissom and glared at him.  They were both poised to drop everything and run.

The reply from the man inside the tent was an incomprehensible grunt and a sleepy "just check the camp while you're up". 

Sara and Grissom hesitated – Nick's brain was screaming at him, 'Run! Run!' but slowly Grissom turned away and went back to sorting through a pack he was currently bent over. Sara glanced nervously towards the tent again before following Grissom's lead and continuing to search a pack.

It wasn't long before Nick saw Grissom and Sara quietly slipping back towards the tree line and, taking his cue, quickly got to his feet and began to make his way to their rendezvous point.

Tuesday – Day 3, 4.02 

Once they reached the hidey-hole and met up with Catherine, the three CSI's quickly exchanged charged and nervous glances before throwing the possessions Grissom and Sara had collected from the camp into a pack and sprinting away from the clearing as fast as they could.

Catherine led the way, followed closely behind by Grissom carrying the pack. Sara was right at his heels, so literally in fact that occasionally she would crash into him when he slowed down to look where he was going.  They were so pumped on adrenalin they wouldn't have realised if they were going in the completely wrong direction, but luckily Catherine had memorised the way on her trips back and forth with Greg.

They almost gave Greg a heart attack when they finally arrived at the makeshift camp he'd managed to create as they came crashing clumsily through undergrowth.

He stared at them with wide eyes for a moment and then visibly relaxed when he realised the danger had ceased, "How did you go?"

"Great!" Sara exclaimed enthusiastically and grinned at him, "Fantastic," she said again and shoved Grissom's arm, "How good was that!?"

Grissom, exhausted from the marathon they'd just run almost fell over with the force of her blow but smiled back at her – the adrenalin was still pumping through him as well.

Catherine quietly laughed out her nervous energy, "I thought you were toast for a minute there!"

"Oh yeah! When the guy came out and went to the toilet?" Sara said, unable to calm down from her high.

"Yeah and when you spoke to one of them – what was that!?"

Sara's eyes widened, "Oh ask him!" She shoved Grissom again, "That was totally his idea – I didn't like it, it was a catch 22! He could have recognised that I wasn't who he thought I was if I answered or he could have got suspicious if I didn't do anything!"

"Hey it worked!" Grissom defended himself, taking an unconscious step away from the suddenly physical Sara. 

"I didn't know what you were doing!" Catherine exclaimed, "I honestly thought you'd lost it."

"Uh guys? I know you're excited but can we keep it down? You know how we just raided one camp without them knowing? Yeah, well, personally it's gotten me a little paranoid about the same thing happening to us," Greg tried to calm his friends down.

They looked at him guiltily and Sara wondered how jumpy he must have felt sitting out here all by himself just waiting for them.

"Sorry Greg," she said and gave him a guilty smile.

"It's okay – I just think we have to be careful now.  Where's Warrick and Nick?"

"They should be here soon," Grissom said as he sat down on a fallen log. He pulled the pack with their stolen possessions towards him and struggled with his shaking hands to open it.

"What did you get in the end?" Catherine asked and sat down on the ground in front of him.

Noticing the trouble Grissom was having with the pack, Sara leant over from behind and helped him open it.

"Thanks," Grissom mumbled and looked up to see her grinning at him.

She ruffled his hair and sat down next to him on the log, ignoring his bemused expression. She was so wired.

He pulled out the first object; a spatula.

After a moment of silence, Catherine spoke up. "Wow," she said sarcastically, "That's some treasure."

Grissom smiled wryly at her, "It's got a sticker – it's a treasure," he said matter-of-factly. 

"Hey show them the best one – I can't believe they were given these and weren't even using them," Sara said shaking her head.

Greg let out a low whistle as Grissom produced two walkie-talkies. 

"Wow – now that _is_ a treasure," Catherine said, visibly impressed.

"These will definitely help us," Greg said, "I mean, all the groups were given a radio for emergency contact to the competition officials and you could probably pick up the signal from these babies pretty easily on it, but if we worked out a code I'm sure we could use them safely."

Grissom nodded, but froze before he could take out the next object.  A distinctly human sound could be heard making it's way towards them through the trees.  Greg stood up and looked anxiously in the direction it was coming from and once again breathed a deep sigh of relief as Nick came bursting through the trees.

The look on Nick's face, however, didn't fill any of them with confidence and they immediately knew why when he blurted out, "They're right behind me!"

"Oh God," Greg managed to blurt out before stepping quickly into action.  He grabbed one of the packs off the ground and threw it at Nick who caught it and thrust it on his back.

Grissom threw the objects back into the pack after handing Sara one of the walkie-talkies.  "We'll have to separate – I'll stay on channel 2. You, Catherine and Greg move to the east and work your way back to the river that way.  Nick and I will have to leave and come back for Warrick later, quickly," he told her firmly before turning around to Nick, "Come on – we're going this way."

Sara didn't have time to think before she saw Grissom and Nick disappearing through the trees, carrying an extra pack between them.  She picked up a pack and slung it on her back, "Greg lead the way," she said and took the rear, glancing anxiously behind her every now and then.

They set off, every step further away from the other half of the group becoming more and more difficult.  They all hated to be separated but it needed to happen. They had to confuse the group that was chasing them – they couldn't risk all of their treasures being found in the one spot. And so, with every creek they jumped and every tree they passed, the Vegas team grew further apart – their only form of contact the two walkie-talkies they'd stolen only hours earlier and hadn't even checked to see if they worked. And no one even knew where Warrick was.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Tuesday – Day 3, 11.53 

Catherine wasn't surprised when it began to rain. Really, what else could go wrong?  She pushed the thought away, suddenly worried that she'd jinx herself, Greg and Sara into walking straight through the middle of an ambush set up by a rival team.  She looked around nervously – with all this paranoia she was experiencing she suddenly realised how some people in wars became so nuts.

"That's it," she heard Greg say ahead of her, "I'm stopping."

"Oh thank God," Catherine mumbled, thankful for the excuse to rest.  Her feet had been killing her for the past 3 hours but there was no way she was going to be the one to ask for a break.  

After they'd separated from Grissom and Nick they'd gone for a run. Then they'd rested for another hour, hiding in some shrub.  They hadn't seen anyone following them but that didn't make them any more relaxed.  If anything it made them more nervous.  What if they were closer than they thought? Worse; what if they'd followed Grissom and Nick, and caught them?  

Catherine wondered what would happen if any of their group were captured, what would become of them.  She figured that they'd probably be kept as prisoners to limit the rest of the group's chance of success in the game.  The competition officials had basically told them that 'anything goes' so she wouldn't be surprised if one of them ended up being tied up in the middle of some enemy camp for the rest of the week. She didn't think she'd be able to stomach that. She vowed to herself that if any of them became captured, she'd sport a rescue mission to break them out.

"Are you going to try and contact Gris?" she asked Sara as the two women collapsed against a big tree and cracked their backs in unison.

"I don't know if we'll be too far away now, but I'll give it a shot," Sara replied and reached to her pack for the walkie-talkie.

She clicked it onto channel two and raised it to her mouth, taking a moment to think of what to say.  She remembered Greg's warning about speaking in code and decided that that was the way to go.

"Hey bug-boy how's the weather down there over?"

Catherine smiled and glanced at Greg who gave her a tired grin in return.

The radio crackled a moment and they held their breath, anxiously awaiting the response.

Suddenly, and loudly, Grissom's voice came through clearly, "I've seen better, fly-girl, but Lenny here seems to like it... Over."

They looked at each other.  "Lenny?" Greg asked.

Catherine grinned, "Lenny Kravitz, they've got Warrick!"

Sara grinned, "That's good news, we're not feeling much heat down this way – has the cool change reached you? Over." Sara prayed that he would understand she was asking about their status regarding their unwanted friends.

"Oh yeah, that blew in a while back. Are you and the family likely to come and visit soon? Over."

"It's a long journey, but we might be able to make by the sixteenth of this month, over."

Greg looked at Catherine, confusion evident on his face.  

"The sixteenth – sixteen hundred hours, four this afternoon," she informed him. He nodded and looked at the walkie-talkie again.

"Sounds good, I look forward to it. Over and out."

Sara clicked the radio off and stashed it in her pack.

"Bug-boy?" Catherine asked with a smirk.

"Fly-girl?" Greg said, joining in.

Sara turned visibly red and glared at them, "What?" she asked innocently before getting up and hoisting her pack back onto her shoulders.  "Come on," she said, "We'll have to get moving if we're getting back by four."

Greg moaned but stood up slowly, throwing his own pack on his back.

Sara offered Catherine her hand and helped her stand up. Before Catherine had the chance to turn around, Sara bent down and picked up her pack.

"Turn around," Sara ordered kindly and Catherine complied, too tired to be annoyed that Sara was telling her what to do.  She helped Catherine struggle into the straps before putting her arm around the shorter woman's shoulders.  "Now you can help carry me," Sara deadpanned.

**Tuesday – Day 3, 15.48**

Grissom breathed a sigh of relief when Nick came to tell him Warrick had spotted the rest of the team coming over the hill towards the river.  

They'd found a place where the ground dropped suddenly next to the river, creating a kind of cave effect and decided that they could safely spend the night there.  It was a nice spot, and completely invisible to anyone on that side of the river.  They'd collected some trees and foliage to hide the opening from the other side of the river.  Grissom was quite confident that they wouldn't be found, unless of course they were followed or heard.  In fact, the only reason that they had found the cave was because Nick had almost broken his leg by falling down the side of the bank. He was unhurt, however, and had gone on to tell them how it was fate that he fell down in exactly the right place.

"It's like the hand of God pushed me down and made me fall," he said enthusiastically.

Warrick had puffed out a laugh, "Yeah, it has nothing to do with you being a lucky klutz at all," he said sarcastically.

In the time they had waiting for the others to return, they'd built another look out tower in a tree, complete with a new alert-bell, which reached their cave. 

Nick left the camp, directed by Warrick, to go and collect Sara, Catherine and Greg and came back soon with three tired and grumpy souls in tow.

"Hi," Sara said curtly as she entered the cave and collapsed on one of the logs that had been brought in to use as a seat.

Catherine grunted out an incoherent greeting and followed Sara to the log.

Greg, in a zombie-like state, stood around staring at the cave.

"This is nice," he said, a slight slur to his voice.

"Greg, man," Nick said and came up to take his pack, "Sit down buddy."

Greg plopped himself down on another log and leaned his arms on his knees.

Grissom and Nick busied themselves getting food and drink for their new arrivals, while Warrick kept watch from his position in the tree.

"Here," Grissom said and handed Catherine a cup of water and a packet of dry biscuits.  He went away and returned almost immediately to give Sara the same.  "Sorry, it's the best we can do without a fire right now."

Sara nodded, "It's fine, this is fine – thank you."

Catherine sighed as she bit into a biscuit, "Tell me we're resting here for the next three days at least," she said hopefully.

"And risk those other camps we spied moving around on us?" Grissom asked with a grin as he sat down on the other side of Sara.

"What other camps?" Sara asked, looking between Catherine and Grissom.

"Before our camp became so rudely taken over yesterday we were out hunting for the other groups remember?"

"Oh yeah," Sara nodded, "So you found the others? Already?"

"We found one," Catherine said, "And we found some tracks down by the river and some evidence of a campfire – but we only saw one group and they were a bit more organised than that other group we ran into."

"They were terrible," Sara agreed.

"Hey, they still chased us around though," Greg reminded them.

"Yeah – how did that happen Nick?" Sara asked.

Nick looked over and realised it was now the time to tell his story. He sat down next to Greg and took a deep breath.

"When I saw you and Grissom leaving, I got up to leave too.  I thought I might be able to meet up with you guys at the hidey-hole but when I got there you were gone already.  I waited for a minute because I thought that Warrick might have the same idea as me and come by but he didn't show up.  Instead, one of the guys came out of their tent and shined a flash light right at me. It happened so fast I didn't even hear him open the zipper. I have no idea how he knew I was there, but he just turned it on and I became I deer in headlights," he looked at the ground sheepishly, "So I ran, but he shouted and woke his friends up and started chasing me.  I didn't know where else to go so I just led them straight to you guys, I know it was stupid of me but I didn't think properly."

"It's okay Nicky," Catherine smiled warmly at him, "I would have done the same thing and we're all okay now… What happened to Warrick?"

Grissom puffed out a small laugh, "Warrick got lost and missed all the commotion. By the time he found his way again we'd already doubled back and were waiting at the rendezvous point again."

"Which was terrible because we didn't know whether he'd been there already and left or just hadn't shown up yet," Nick added, "We just had to take our chances and wait it out."

Greg filled Nick and Grissom in on the adventures that he, Catherine and Sara had had – which really just consisted of 'We walked a long long way' – while Sara and Catherine unravelled their sleeping bags next to a wall of the cave and laid down.

Sara lay on her back, her head in her hands, eyes closed, listening to Greg re-tell every detail of their journey to Nick and Grissom while they began to get everything ready for dinner.

Catherine sighed heavily and rolled onto her side, facing Sara. "At least you won't wake up with that rock in your side again," she mumbled as she closed her eyes.

Sara smiled, "Oh yeah, there's a reason for hiking 50 miles."

"Well if it saves me from turning into your mattress…"

Sara sighed happily. Despite the fact that she was immensely tired, she was still aware of how much everyone in their group had become so close already. She felt so happy to be back with the other half of the group and that odd urge of wanting to hug everyone was coming over her again, only this time it was even stronger. Maybe the idea of the competition being all about team building and working together wasn't as silly as it had first sounded?  She was definitely having a lot more fun than she usually had with these people at work and she hoped that it would stay this way when the competition was over. 

"Hey Cat?" she asked and opened her eyes to look at the roof of the cave.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks."

"What for?" Catherine asked, turning to look at the side of Sara's face.

Sara shrugged, "I dunno."

Catherine's brow crinkled in confusion before she puffed out a laugh and shrugged, "Okay, you're welcome."  She smiled and closed her eyes, slowly drifting into a deep and restful sleep.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

A/N – Thanks to everyone who's reading and reviewing, you guys all kick arse. Many thanks to Ash and Amorith, you girls are the best!

**Wednesday – Day 4, 01.01**

Sara woke up surprised to find herself plunged into darkness.  Confused at the loss of time, she tried to move to check her watch but found herself wedged snugly between two warm bodies. She realised suddenly just how cold it was in the cave and, forgetting her watch, snuggled back down into her sleeping bag and against one of the bodies.

She breathed in deeply, recognising the smell of Grissom immediately.  She remembered falling asleep next to Catherine and gathered that she was the person snuggled close against her back.  Despite the warmth given off by her two friends she shivered and bore herself closer into Grissom's side.  She felt Catherine sigh into the back of her neck and move closer to her.

God, thought Sara, this is interesting.  She bit her lip to stop the laugh that threatened to escape and tried to relax.

She realised with annoyance that she was now wide awake and shut her eyes, desperately praying that she would just fall back into sleep.

She physically jumped, causing Catherine to moan slightly, when she heard Grissom whisper, "Are you okay?"

She lifted her head, effectively burying her face into his neck and murmured, "Sure, why?"

"You're awake," he whispered.

She smiled against his neck, wondering whether he was enjoying this half as much as she was and replied, "So are you."

"Hmm," he agreed quietly.

"So are you okay?"

"I'm just thinking," he said truthfully.

"About?"

"I'm worried," he answered softly.

"This is a good camp, they wont find us here," Sara replied.

"No, I'm worried about you."

"You are? Why?" Sara asked, surprised.

"What to you do when you go home after shift?" he asked carefully.

Sara tensed up and frowned, "What do you mean?"

"What do you do? Do you go anywhere or see anyone or… do anything?"

"Not this again Grissom…"

"I just," Grissom sighed, "I just realised I don't know a heck of a lot about your life outside work, and I used to."

"Oh you remember way back then?" She asked innocently.

"Yes Sara, of course I remember."

"What else do you remember?" She asked and nudged his chin with her nose.

Grissom sighed and closed his eyes, the memories of their life before Vegas playing before him like a movie projected onto a screen.

"I remember you used to smile a lot more," he began, "I remember you used to smile at me a lot more.  I remember you wanting to learn everything I could teach you and I remember wanting to teach you everything I knew."

Sara nodded, "Do you remember the airport?"

A deadly silence filled the cave and Sara wondered if he would ever answer her at all.  Finally, he whispered, "Yes, I remember the airport."

"What happened at the airport Gris?" Sara whispered into his neck.

"I had to leave Sara, they needed me in Vegas," Grissom replied.

"I know, but what happened at the airport?" Sara said, desperate for him to tell her so she knew he remembered.

"You drove me. And I got out of the car – we were late, so I had to hurry. I was in such a rush and I didn't want to say goodbye. But I had to so I walked around to your side of the car and said goodbye through the open window," his voice faltered.

"And?" Sara breathed.

Grissom sighed, "And I leaned in and kissed you."

"And I wouldn't let go," Sara smiled into his neck.

"No," Grissom puffed out a small laugh, "You wouldn't. I ended up dragging you half out the window with your arms still around my neck."

"Hmm," Sara hummed into his neck and grinned at the memory, "You never mentioned it, I thought you'd forgotten."

"I could never forget that Sara," he replied quietly.

Sara sighed and relaxed against his body. Suddenly incredibly tired, she slowly drifted off and entered a blissful sleep.

**Wednesday – Day 4, 07.37**

Catherine woke up to find herself rugged up in two sleeping bags, using Sara's stomach as a pillow.  She groaned and slid the sleeping bags down to her waist, welcoming the fresh warm breeze that blew softly into the cave.

"Oh look who's decided to wake up," she heard Nick say from the sitting area nearer the opening that lead to the river.

She groaned again, "I hurt."

"I'm not surprised with all the walking you did. Oh wait a second," she heard him move around the cave and come to stand in front of her. He had something in his hand and just as the flash went off she realised what he was doing.

"Hey!" she growled and sat up abruptly.  Sara mumbled something and turned away, snuggling into the empty space beside her.

"No photos before breakfast," she glared at Nick who was laughing at her.

"I forgot I brought this," he said and snapped another one of her quickly.

"Quit it Nick I mean it!" Catherine squealed, unable to keep from laughing at him.

"What's going on?" Sara asked sleepily.

"Nick's being an ass!" Catherine retorted and fell heavily back into a lying position.

"I hurt," Sara grumbled and sat up slowly.  She looked around her. Both Grissom and Warrick were gone.  Greg was still sleeping soundly a couple of meters away from her.

"Where are the others?"

"They're keeping each other company on sentry duty – Grissom said something about 'having a talk' with Warrick or something. Don't ask me what that's about," Nick said shaking his head.

"Hmm, I don't think it's anything serious," Catherine said, "I think he just wants to make sure he's happy at CSI."

"Why, what do you know?" Nick asked her.

She shrugged, "He just mentioned it yesterday. He wanted to make sure I was okay, said he wanted to make sure we all were."

"Huh, okay that makes sense now," Sara said thoughtfully, "He sort of asked me about that too."

"He hasn't mentioned anything to me," Nick said.

"Nor me," Greg said sleepily.

"Oh he will," Catherine said, "I'm sure he wants to get around to everyone before the week is out."

Nick grinned, "That's kind of nice," he said and turned around quickly, "Who wants breakfast?"

**

After realising that Grissom, Nick and Warrick had been rotating sentry duty all night, Sara, Catherine and Greg set out to make their day as easy as possible.  They insisted that they would be the only ones on sentry duty during the day, and Greg had taken to fishing in the river so that they could cook them a nice dinner once it became dark.  They'd realised last night that their cave had a downside; they couldn't light a fire in it or they would die of smoke inhalation. A minor detail that they had overlooked when settling in, thus the massive group hug session during the middle of the night.

Although they would have loved to just sit back and enjoy a lazy day of fishing and prettying up the inside of their cave, they realised they had to sit down and have a serious meeting.

With Sara and Greg up the tree keeping a look out and the other four sitting around the ground below, the meeting was called to order.

"So," Grissom began, "We now have five stolen treasures added to our collection here, including Team Boston's flag."

"Boston? Is that who those guy's were?" Catherine asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Apparently – according to their flag we grabbed anyway," Grissom said, "So, we have five more…"

"What were the other ones?" Greg interrupted from above.

Grissom sighed, "The flag, the spatula, the walkie-talkies, a useless wooden sculpture or something and a fry-pan."

Catherine giggled, "They really have a weird sense of humour don't they?" she said referring to the competition officials.

"It seems so. So – five more treasures, but we obviously need to get more because we don't know how the other two teams are going. Sure, we could relax and decide we might have enough to win this game, or we could go out there and make sure we win. I want to win," he announced, "And I think we can. We've got good ideas and we've got brains and we've all got guts. What do you say?"

He looked around at the grinning faces and rested on Greg's.

"You forgot to say one thing Gris," he said, "This is War!"

Nick and Warrick giggled while Sara slapped Greg on the back.  Catherine looked at Grissom as if to say 'you think we can win with this mob of clowns?'

"Okay okay, calm down everyone," Warrick finally became serious, "Sorry Grissom. I agree – completely. I think we have to do another raid, but for some reason I'm just not so confident in the ideas that we thought of before. I mean, I sure as hell don't trust _anyone_ out here unless they're you guys – what will make these teams any different?  Nothing against our fine ladies here but I don't think just walking up to a couple of guy's and flashing their pearly whites is going to cut it, nor do I think that anyone will trust us enough to forge a fake alliance with us."

"You're right," Grissom agreed, "So what do you suggest?"

Warrick shrugged, "I'm fresh out of wisdom right now."

Catherine frowned and tried to remember what she'd been thinking about when they were hiking all day yesterday.

"Cath's got something," Sara said from above, earning her a gaze from everyone – including Catherine.  "What? You do, go on."

"Okay, well I was thinking…"

"Uh oh," Nick said and grinned at her.

Catherine ignored him and continued, "We're at our strongest when we're all together right? If something happened to one of us, we'd become weaker. The rules said anything goes and I guess that means that we can capture people and take them out of the game…"

"Kidnap people from their own group?" Warrick asked, suddenly amazed.

"Uh, well yeah – think about it. We've got tons of rope, we can tie them up and feed them and give them water.  The team they belong to won't have a clue where he's gone…"

"We could leave a ransom note!" Greg squealed, "Telling them to give as a treasure in return for their friend!"

Nick laughed, "And if it doesn't work then we'll kidnap another until their numbers are reduced and we can go in and claim their treasure!"

Grissom smiled wryly, "This is very good, if we can pull it off."

"Of course we can pull it off!" Sara called from above, "It'll take a hell of a lot of planning and a hell of a lot of luck – but we can pull it off," she said confidently.

"Okay," Grissom said and looked around his group, "I guess we have a plan of action then."

**Wednesday – Day 4, 13.28**

Greg sat on a rock by the edge of the river, a makeshift fishing rod dangling into the water.

"Hey," Sara said quietly as she ambled towards him and took a seat on the rock next to his.

"Hi," he said and looked intently at the water.

"Catch anything yet?"

He shook his head, "Nothing yet."

Sara nodded and looked out across the river. This was nice.  She took the opportunity to turn slightly and study Greg.  He looked very serious when he was concentrating, and for some reason he was concentrating extremely hard on the water in front of him.

"What's up?" she asked.

Greg shrugged, "I don't know, I think I'm just tired."

Sara frowned and shuffled closer to him, reaching out to put a hand on his knee. "How have you been Greg?"

A small grin formed on his lips, "Isn't this Grissom's job?"

Sara smiled, "Apparently, but I'd like to know how you are too. I've been so out of touch lately, I didn't realise until we came here."

"Everyone's been out of touch," Greg agreed and then took a deep breath, "I'm okay. I've been to see someone after the explosion but they say it'll take years for my hands to calm down, and they may never. It's something about going through a stressful ordeal, some people have it after they have operations and stuff like that."

Sara nodded, she hadn't been so out of touch with Greg that she didn't know about his shaking hands. In fact, she probably felt a little closer to him than anyone at work because they shared the explosion.

"So what about you, did you see anyone?" Greg asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, did you go and see someone to talk about it?"

"You mean a shrink?" Sara laughed, "No, why would I need a shrink?"

Greg shrugged, "It helped me, it's still helping me. It's good to have someone that listens."

"Yeah, well, I didn't go through nearly as much as you did," Sara reasoned with him.

"That's not true – you went through exactly the same thing, I just ended up in hospital. Just because my physical injuries were a little worse doesn't mean the emotional injuries are any different."

Sara looked at him for a moment and then grinned, "Is that what your shrink told you?"

Greg sighed, "If you need someone to listen, Sara, I'm here with Dumbo ears. Always."

Unable to resist the urge this time, Sara reached out and pulled Greg into a hug.  "Thanks," she whispered.

A small cough sounded from behind them and they broke apart to find Grissom there, eyebrows raised.

"I'm going to relieve Nick and Warrick from their post at the other group, did anyone want to come?" He looked at Sara as he asked this, prompting her to stand up.

"Sure, I'll come," she said and turned towards Greg, "Keep fishing Dadio," she ruffled his hair and turned back towards Grissom.

He frowned at her and she frowned right back at him. "Don't be stupid," she said as she passed him and headed into the cave to collect her things.

She took more time than necessary to get ready to go with Grissom, hoping that in the time she was absent that he would sit down and have his talk with Greg.  She'd been surprised to hear that Greg had been going to see a shrink but she reasoned with herself and decided it was highly plausible.  The hospital probably set it up. Should she have gone to see one after the explosion? She shrugged the thought away, it wasn't something she wanted to think about. 

She exited the cave to find Grissom waiting patiently for her.

"Alright," she said, "Let's go spy on Toronto."

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N First off, thanks to my betas for sticking with me – Amorith may think she's taken ages to get back to me but Ash has probably been waiting a lot longer than I was for the next chapter, so don't worry! And also, thanks to the readers who kept bugging me about this chapter – it's really great to hear that you're still interested in reading it! **

**Wednesday – Day 4, 15.02**

The Toronto camp was much more efficient than Boston had been.  Despite the fact that they hung their flag proudly in the middle of their camp, they'd been very smart.  They had two people on sentry duty. Both were on the ground patrolling each side of their camp, and they looked pretty intense.

In order to spy on them properly, the Vegas team had to take up a vantage point in the treetops about one hundred meters away from the guards.  The trees were good because you could see a lot from every direction when you sat high enough and also because humans had a habit of forgetting to look above their own line of sight. The chances of the Vegas team being spotted in the trees were minimal, but they also had a down side. They weren't exactly the most comfortable seats in the theatre.

Grissom grunted quietly as he shifted his position in the tree and tried to concentrate on the scene before him.  It was difficult to stay focussed when the Toronto camp was being so boring and he had a leggy brunette showing off her midriff in front of him. Sara's feet were on the branch below him, but she stood, hanging onto one of the branches above her, effectively raising the t-shirt she wore above her navel. She seemed quite intent on watching the camp, however, and didn't notice the awkward Grissom that clung to his branch for dear life.  He sighed and tried to concentrate again and found his eyes were betraying him by wandering up and down the body in front of him. He almost fell out of the tree when he heard her speak.

"What do you think?" She asked, earning her a bewildered stare from the entomologist. "Of the plan," she clarified and looked down at him, "Do you think we should try and grab the next person who comes out this way for a bathroom break?"

Grissom thought for a moment and scanned the campsite again, "No I think we should wait until we know a bit more about them. We don't have anything to tie them up or blindfold them with so I think we should just lay low while we're here."

Sara sighed, "Okay," she said and looked back at the camp.

Grissom grinned a little, slightly amused at her need for action. "You're very scary when you're pumped up on adrenalin," Grissom said quietly.

Sara gave him an amused glare, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, you just get very physical – you wouldn't quit hitting me the other night," he said and rubbed his arm at the memory.

Sara puffed out a laugh, "Sorry," she said, "I'll try not to do that again."

A moment passed before Grissom answered, "No that's okay, I don't mind."

Sara studied him for a moment, trying to read his mind. 

"What?" Grissom asked.

"Nothing," she said and looked away, smiling.

They stayed up the tree for hours, watching the Toronto camp and memorising every detail of their security and sentry.  Occasionally two or more of them would leave the group, obviously going on treks to try and spy out any other camps but they always returned disappointed. Finally Catherine and Greg came to relieve them. They whispered short messages of luck to each other before Grissom and Sara slipped away to leave Greg and Catherine up the uncomfortable tree.

When they were safely out of earshot, Grissom and Sara relaxed more in their retreat.

"So are we going to watch them all night?" Sara asked him as they walked along the leaf-littered ground.

"I was thinking that we should strike at night – test out your theory about people at three in the morning again," Grissom puffed beside her. Even if he didn't get anything else out of this weekend in Canada he would definitely have a fitter body by the end of it.

"You mean that people are at their weakest?" 

Grissom nodded, "Yeah."

"So who do we grab? The people on sentry?"

"They would definitely be the easiest targets. We'd need two to over-power each person – keep two of us at camp for security."

Sara pictured it going down in her mind, "It could work, they certainly wont be expecting it," she stepped over a fallen log, "I just hate to leave so little amount of people with our treasures."

"Yeah I know what you mean, but I guess this is all about the risks you're willing to take," he said and stumbled over a half-buried tree root.

"You feeling risky tonight Grissom?" Sara asked playfully and tossed him a grin.

Grissom gave her a look and tried not to grin, "I think it has to be tonight. We're running out of time. Tomorrow might be too late."

"Hmm," Sara agreed and decided to concentrate on where she was walking instead of the possible double meaning to his words.

They arrived at their camp not soon after, passing Nick in the tree and coming to a stop in front of the small fire Warrick was beginning to create in a dug out hole in the earth. After telling him they thought they should act tonight, Sara offered to help Warrick cook the fish that Greg had caught earlier while Grissom went to keep Nick company on sentry duty.

"Has he spoken to you yet?" Warrick asked and motioned after Grissom's retreating form.

Sara thought for a moment, "I guess so – or at least he began to and I distracted him enough to go off on a tangent. The thought was there."

Warrick puffed a laugh, "I got this big talk about how I should only be doing this job if I was sure that's where I wanted to be. I think he's worried we're all going to bail on him.  If you'll believe it, I think he actually likes us," Warrick said wryly, earning him a small grin from Sara.

"He likes some better than others evidently," she said and began preparing the fish.

Warrick gave her a puzzled look, "What do you mean by that?"

Sara looked at him surprised, "Oh, well – you're his favourite, didn't you know? And he's recommending Nick for the promotion, and we all know how close he is with Catherine. I think he looks at Greg as a sort of prodigal son sometimes."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Warrick said raising he hands, "You don't think Gris _likes_ you?"

Sara shrugged, "It's hard to tell sometimes. Sometimes it's just like old times – back before I came to Vegas. Others…" she trailed off and gave him a pained look.

"Sara," Warrick said, the awe still evident in his voice, "Grissom likes you. Trust me when I say this. Now, I know I don't know about your history with him before Vegas but you were obviously friends – what's changed?"

She shrugged again, "I don't know when it became so hard. One day we were having fun, the next day it hurt just about every time I saw him."

Warrick shook his head, "You guys are hopeless."

"What do you mean?"

"You've got it bad," Warrick laughed, "Almost as bad as he's got it and it's making you both blind."

Sara frowned, "It's more complicated than you think Warrick."

"I'm sure it is," Warrick said, completely serious, "But I don't think your _feelings_ are complicated are they? And in the end – what else matters?"  He let the question dangle and walked towards the cave.  When he came back with the fry pan Sara was still sitting and thinking in the same place he left her.

"It gets to a point when you just feel as if you're making a fool out of yourself by showing him how you really feel, because he doesn't ever respond when I initiate anything. There's only so much humiliation I can go through without losing respect for myself," she said and looked away.

Before Warrick could answer she stood up and sought out her sleeping bag inside the cave, returning only when she heard Grissom's voice signalling he was back at camp.

**Wednesday – Day 4, 19.48**

The rain began to beat down on them again just as the sun slipped over the horizon.

Grissom, Nick and Warrick huddled in the shelter of the cave, all feeling immensely guilty for leaving Sara in the tree on sentry and Catherine and Greg up their tree overlooking their rival camp.

"So we're still going to try it tonight?" Nick asked, voice raised over the resounding noise of the rain.

"We have to make our move tonight – even in this rain!" Warrick answered loudly and wrapped his sleeping bag tighter around himself.

Grissom nodded, "_Especially_ in this rain – it'll be the last thing they're expecting."

"If we take out the two on sentry though, we can have a look around their camp for treasure's too right?" Nick asked and took a sip of his warm coffee.

"I don't think they'd be stupid enough to leave them lying around like Boston did, but we could probably grab that flag of theirs," Warrick said.

Nick nodded and shivered as the sound of thunder came rumbling towards them.

Grissom looked pensive as he glanced out the opening of the cave and at the faces of his younger co-workers.  "I hope this place doesn't flood," he said to no one in particular.

Warrick looked at him sharply, "We're high enough away from the river aren't we?"

Grissom shrugged and stood up, walking towards the pot of boiling water they were huddled around, "I hope so," he said as he began to pour the hot liquid into a large cup.  He added some coffee and powdered milk, "I'm going to go and take this to Sara," he said and squinted at the rain outside.

"Better you than me," Nick grinned.

Grissom was interrupted in the middle of his next sentence when a sopping wet Greg and Catherine came stumbling into the cave.

Warrick got up immediately to get them towels and handed them over quickly.

"Thanks," they panted as they tried to dry themselves off a little.

"Sorry, we couldn't sit there anymore – it was horrible," Catherine said, "They packed up everything and have disappeared into their tents…"

"Have they left anyone on sentry?" Grissom asked as he began pouring her and Greg cups of coffee.

Catherine nodded, "Yeah – they've still got two, but they're not very happy!" She looked around, "Where's Sara?"

"Sentry," Nick said simply.  He backed away quickly when he saw the fury in Catherine's expression.

"Sentry? You guys left her alone up that tree in _this_?" she motioned violently outside.

Grissom, Nick and Warrick looked at each other sheepishly.

"I was just taking her this," Grissom said weakly and lifted up the cup of coffee he'd made.

Catherine rolled her eyes at him, "You're hopeless!"

Grissom glared at her, "Hey! She said she didn't mind! I offered to do it for her, we all offered to do it for her but she told us no! It's not like we just left her up there, she's under a tarp – we made a shelter!"

"Since when is Sara going to show _you_ a weakness?" Catherine demanded of him, her hands now on her hips.

Grissom opened his mouth and tried to think of something to say. He couldn't, apparently, and he just stood there stuttering.

"Give me that" Catherine said and motioned for the coffee.

Grissom pulled it away from her, "No – I'm taking it to her, I told you I was taking it to her."

Catherine, obviously cheery from her time spent in a tree getting drenched, opened her mouth to say something else but Warrick stepped in.

"Okay, shut up both of you! Catherine, Grissom's right – we couldn't have done the sentry duty for Sara even if her leg was broken and she was bleeding to death internally. You know how tough she is," he said softly.

Catherine sighed and looked past Warrick to catch Grissom's gaze, "I'm sorry for yelling at you, I'm tired and wet and annoyed and in pain and I know how much it sucked being up a tree in this weather. If it wasn't for Greg keeping me company I'd have been miserable and depressed so I just don't think it's a brilliant idea to leave Sara up there all alone."

Grissom looked at her with an expression of understanding and she smiled back at him. Friends.

"I'm going to take this to Sara," Grissom said carefully, raising the coffee cup, "And I'll stay with her until everyone's ready for the raid," he added and nodded at Catherine.

"What raid?" Greg asked as Grissom ventured out into the cold, wet night.

"We're still going ahead with the kidnapping plan," Nick said, "We're going to do it tonight – do you two want to stay here? You both look kind of beat and we need two people to stay here and guard our treasures."

Greg glanced at Catherine who'd found her way to the nearest log, "Yeah, I'll do sentry."

Catherine glanced up at him and smiled gratefully, "Oh Greg I love you."

Through the darkness, the wind and the rain, it took Grissom a small while to find the tree that Sara was parked in. Luckily the coffee cup had a lid to keep the cold water out, and to keep the hot liquid in when Grissom began to awkwardly climb the tree.

"Grissom," Sara said, obviously surprised to see him. The tarp had held well and had kept most of the water off of her, though she still looked freezing and her clothes were still damp.

He gave her the cup of coffee and came to sit beside her, "Hi."

She accepted the coffee gratefully and breathed in the steamy air after taking the lid off, "Oh thank you," she grinned at him.

He simply grinned at her, "You okay up here? Tell the truth."

"Yeah I'm fine, a little cold – but I'm fine," her teeth chattered as she spoke but she didn't appear to notice.

"Sara, you're freezing aren't you?" Grissom frowned and put an arm around her. She immediately tensed up, but he took no notice.

Sara sipped at her coffee and looked out into the night.  There was hardly any reason for her to be up there at all; the visibility was atrocious.  

"We're going to make our move tonight," Grissom said into her ear. His warm breath made her skin tingle and she breathed in a deep breath.

"At the Toronto camp?" she asked, mentally kicking herself at the stupidity of her question. Yes, at the Toronto camp. This man did annoying things to her normally intelligent mind.

"Uhhuh," Grissom murmured, "You, me, Nick and Warrick. I don't think Greg and Catherine are up to it, they're back in the cave now."

Sara nodded, "Yeah I saw them come by."

"So is that okay with you? You're fine to grab one of these guys?"

She frowned at him, "Sure, it's just a game isn't it?"

Grissom nodded, "Yeah, I just hope the two guards realise it."

"They will," Sara said confidently.

They heard Warrick and Nick coming towards them before they saw them. Greg was with them too. He climbed the tree quickly, anxious to get under the tarp as soon as possible.

"I've come to take over!" he announced and squeezed onto the platform next to Grissom. "Good luck you guys," he called after them as they slid down the tree.

"Bye Greg," Sara called back as they began their trek into the darkness of the night.

**TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Apologies for the delay again, it's that time of year where everything is just nuts here. I do hope that I haven't lost many readers! Many thanks to my betas Ash and Amorith, I can't do this without you two! And once again – to all those who review, I love you all, thank you.

**Wednesday – Day 4, 23.15**

The four CSI's crouched together under their spy-tree. The rain hadn't let up at all, keeping them nice and drenched in their soggy clothes. They all wore beanies except for Grissom who'd been the latest of the group to inherit Nick's overly popular backwards hat.

They all stood hunched over and squinting, as if this stance would somehow protect them from the unrelenting storm.

Nick and Sara's teeth were chattering continuously and they both grinned at each other and rolled their eyes in the light of the small flash light that Warrick was holding with trembling hands.

"Okay," Grissom breathed out, "Nick and Warrick – you've got the one on this side of the camp. Sara and I will take the one on the other side.  The element of surprise is on our side, so lets not ruin that. You'll have to make sure he's gagged before anything else because we don't want him waking up any of his friends by shouting out. Is everyone clear on their part?"

He looked at each of them nodding their heads and went on, "Good. We've got the radios with us if anything goes wrong, but hopefully we wont need them. Ready?"

"How will we know when you're in position?" Nick asked.

"Four clicks on your radio. If we run into trouble and can't grab our guard, we'll click twice. When we're ready to strike we'll click five times. You guys do the same," Grissom said and sniffed away the water on his nose. He turned to Sara, "Let's go."

Warrick and Nick watched them disappear quickly into the shadows and turned towards the camp.

"Okay," Warrick let out a sigh, "We should get closer to get a better look at what we're dealing with."

Nick nodded and started to move forward, followed closely behind by Warrick.

Quite a bit of time passed as Warrick and Nick waited to hear from Grissom and Sara. They sat in silence, drenched from head to toe, watching the Toronto camp and it's guards. 

Nick glanced at his watch, "We better make a move quickly if these are the two we want. They're changing over in 30 minutes."

Warrick nodded, "Although, if we get two who are still just waking up then they might be more out of it. Easier for us."

"Do you think that's what they're waiting for? The change over?"

"It's possible. They should be at the other side of the camp, they're probably thinking up something."

Nick puffed out a deep breath causing Warrick to look at him.

"You okay?" Warrick asked.

"What do you mean?" Nick frowned.

"You just seem a little… tense."

Nick rolled his eyes, "If you want to know the truth I'm a little wired, and a little anxious to just get this over with. I hate this waiting around."

"Well," Warrick sighed and looked back towards the Toronto camp, "Something tells me we'll be waiting for a while yet. Grissom and Sara – well, they're the masters when it comes to patience aren't they?"

Nick grinned and glanced back at the guards.  To his surprise they were both in the same area, talking to each other.  One of them nodded and watched as the other walked straight into the surrounding forest.  There was a crackle on their radio – two clicks.

Warrick sprung to his feet quickly, "They're in trouble, damn – this would be the perfect time – the guards are separated!"

"Should we call them up?"

Warrick hesitated, "No, I don't want to risk them being heard."

"Well we can't just sit here and do nothing, what do you think has happened?"

Warrick sighed, "Hell Nick, I don't know. Two clicks – they can't go through with it. I know as much as you do man."

"So click them back five and tell them we're still going ahead – we can get this guy all by himself."

Warrick looked back at the single guard walking miserably through the campsite by himself.  He didn't know if it was the poor lighting or what but the guy looked very small. Warrick felt very confident.

He clicked the radio five times and looked back at Nick, "Let's go."

**Thursday – Day 5, 1.17**

Grissom cursed for the fourth time in five minutes as he heard his walkie-talkie click back at him five times.

"I can not believe we got lost, Sara," he fumed at her and stepped over a rock.

She sighed heavily; somehow she just knew he was going to blame this on her. They'd decided to take a wide arc around the camp and ended up making a wider one than they'd thought. When they tried to back track she had a feeling they were only getting more and more off course and finally they'd realised that they wouldn't be able to help Warrick and Nick with the kidnapping.

"At least they're still able to go ahead with it without us," she mumbled and slipped over a log. She swore as she re-opened the gash on her hand she'd made in her hasty exit from their original sentry tree.

Grissom turned around and glared at her dark figure, crouched down next to a log. His anger at their abandonment of Nick and Warrick drained away from him and a new sense of guilt came flooding in. He crouched down beside her, his heart skipping a beat as she flinched away from him.

"Hey," he said quietly, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said curtly and moved to stand up. A warm hand on her shoulder kept her down and she looked at him questioningly.

"Let's just sit for a while, for all we know we could be walking in completely the wrong direction."

She sighed and wriggled into a comfortable position, her back leant up against the log. "Sorry," she said on a sigh.

Grissom shook his head, "It's not your fault. It's not yours, not mine – sometimes thing's just happen," he sighed and leant against the log as well, "If we both weren't so stubborn we'd have realised we were lost a long time ago."

After a moment of sitting in the rain Sara decided to break the silence, "So. What are we going to do?"

Grissom shrugged, "Wait until Warrick and Nick are freed up to contact us on the walkie-talkies?"

"And tell them what? We're lost, in a place that looks kind of like the Canadian wilderness. There's a couple of trees, oh – a rock, and some logs… come find us guys!"

"Okay, you make your point," Grissom relented, "I don't think we can do much until light, then we'll have to work our way back to the river and figure out how far away from camp we are."

"That sounds easy enough," Sara agreed, "I hope we can find the river," she mused and looked up at the sky, squinting slightly as the rain showered her face, "And that we don't catch pneumonia," she shivered involuntarily and shuffled a little closer to him.

Grissom sighed and waited for inspiration to strike.

Catherine's mouth dropped open as Warrick and Nick came staggering into the cave, hauling another man between the two of them. The unidentified man wore a beanie pulled over his eyes, his hands were bound together with rope and he'd been gagged.

She looked from Nick to Warrick and back again, trying to decide on a place to start. 'What the hell' seemed pretty good and she just began to speak when Warrick cleared his throat and motioned for her to be silent.

She shut her mouth, but her eyes were still full of questions.

Warrick and Nick sat the man down in a corner, being careful not to hurt him. Warrick motioned to Nick to stay with him and then stood up and waved at Catherine to follow him out of the cave.

When they were far enough away Catherine stopped, "What the hell, Warrick?"

He couldn't help the boyish smile that crossed his face, "Calm down Catherine, he came voluntarily," he grinned.

"What?"

"We told him we were the competition co-ordinators and asked him if he wanted to have a chance at winning his lab even more money by moving on to the next level."

Catherine shook her head at him, still in shock, "He believed you?"

Warrick shrugged, "Yeah, the guy didn't make one peep on the way back here, oh and…" he pulled a flag out from under his jacket, "ta-da!"

Finally Catherine had to grin, "I can't believe you, where's Grissom and Sara?"

"They're not back yet?"

Catherine looked around, "Do you see them anywhere?" she asked him sarcastically.

Warrick frowned, "They signalled to us that they couldn't go ahead with their end of the plan, so Nick and I decided to grab this guy anyway – I was hoping they'd be back here."

Catherine shook her head, "Nope, last we saw of them was when they were leaving with you guys," she squinted in worry, "You don't think they're in trouble do you?"

Warrick sighed, "I don't know," he pulled the walkie-talkie off his back pocket and put it to his mouth, "Griss? Sara? Can you guys hear me?"

The walkie-talkie crackled, making both Sara and Grissom jump with a start. They'd been getting sleepy, hugging each other for warmth and listening to the gentle patter of rain falling through the treetops. The mechanical crackle brought them both out of their dream worlds.

"Griss? Sara? Can you guys hear me?" they heard Warrick's voice, distorted.

Grissom grabbed for the radio, "Yes! Warrick, we're here, er, copy."

Sara tried unsuccessfully to repress her grin and looked at the radio intently.

"Where are you guys? Over." Warrick asked.

Grissom glanced at Sara before he answered, "We uh, er, we don't really know where we are. We got lost, over."

There was a brief pause, and then a laugh, "You what? Is it bad? Are you both okay? Over."

"We're fine, just cold and wet. We're going to wait for a bit more light and then try and navigate our way to the river, we'll contact you if there's any problems, over."

"Okay, Griss, I hope you guys are okay in this weather, over."

"Yeah, we'll see.  How did you and Nick go?" Grissom asked.

"Successfully, we've got one back here now. We'll start the interrogation soon, over."

"Good luck, over."

"Thanks, you too, over and out," Warrick clicked off.

Grissom sighed and glanced back at Sara who was shivering again.

"We're going to have to keep moving, we're getting too cold here," Grissom said to her.

Sara nodded and gingerly rose to her feet. She looked at the early morning sky; it was gradually becoming lighter.  She sighed and turned back to Grissom, offering him her hand. He took it and pulled himself up, smiling at her in thanks. She smiled back at him and waited for him to start leading the way. When he didn't move, and kept his hand in hers, she glanced nervously away and tried to think of something to say.

"So," she croaked out and turned back to him, "which wa-"

He cut her off by leaning in towards her, his forehead resting on hers. Her breath caught in her throat as he nudged her face with his own and then paused. He wanted to kiss her, but this was as far as he was going to go with the initiation. And she knew that.

Without thinking of much else other than, 'Oh my God', she closed the tiny gap between them and kissed him.

His lips were as cold as her own, but when he opened his mouth she could feel the warmth of his breath and tongue. She closed her eyes and sighed, gripping the front of his shirt into bunches with both hands. A million different thoughts began to race through her head; Oh my God, Grissom is kissing me, This is finally happening, This is so surreal, I'm so cold, He's so warm, It's raining, This is so bizarre, We're kissing whilst lost in the forest… in Canada, Grissom is kissing me, Oh my God, This is nice, This is good, What's he thinking? Is this what he wants? Oh God… I'm kissing Grissom, this is…

She slowly pulled away from him and found his eyes. She breathed out a nervous laugh and swallowed. "Okay," she managed to say, "That was…"

"Wrong of me…"

"Unexpected."

She looked away and released his shirt, taking a step back.

"What?" she asked, her arms coming to fold protectively in front of her. She saw him hesitate and search frantically for the right words to say.

"I'm sorry," he breathed out. Wrong words. "I mean, I.. Uh, er, I'm not sorry, I… well, if you didn't want to then…"

She studied the stuttering mess of a man in front of her and couldn't help the small grin that appeared on her lips.

He visibly relaxed when he saw the glimmer of amusement in her eyes and sighed, "I've… wanted to do that for a while," he shrugged and looked at the ground, an embarrassed smile gracing his features.

He sensed her coming nearer and watched as her hand reached out and slipped into his own.

"Come on," she said, "Let's try and find this river."

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N – Excuse me while I dance around madly screaming 'I'm free, I'm free!' For a couple of weeks anyway and then I'll be back at Uni, but I have a feeling no one's really interested in this so I'll say thanks once again to my brilliant beta's for their beautiful work and to the people who have continued to review and hassle me for this next chapter. I can promise the next one a lot sooner too… but onwards we go! Review and I shall love you forever!**

**Thursday - Day 5, 6.11**

"Okay, lets just get a few things in order Mr. Hapner. You say that your only treasure is the flag that stands proud and tall in the centre of your camp?" Warrick asked authoritatively as he twisted said flag between his hands.

The blindfolded man nodded, "Yes, the rest of them were taken the second night we were here. Since then we've tightened up our security – no one's going to get that flag!"

Nick frowned and looked at Warrick – was this guy for real? It was entirely possible that he'd cottoned onto what they were really up to and was giving them false information, but Nick couldn't be sure.

"You've got nothing?" Warrick asked again, trying to keep the incredulity out of his voice.

The man shook his head, "Which is why I'm really happy you're giving me a chance to score some extra points for my team, they'll be so excited when they hear."

Nick sighed and rolled his eyes – great. Now what? This whole plan had been a complete and utter screw up. They'd lost two of their team members, gained a new addition with this Mr Hapner who, as it turned out, wasn't going to be able to help them get any more treasures at all. They had to somehow keep up this charade of being competition officials and get this guy back to his camp without him figuring out what was going on and where he'd just been… and none of the Vegas team had slept in hours! Nick was tired, and as he looked at Warrick who sat dejectedly down on the log across from him, he realized he wasn't the only one.  Those sleeping bags a couple of meters away looked oh-so comfortable.

Warrick swallowed hard and looked back at Nick before standing up again and walking over to Hapner.

"I'm afraid there's been some sort of mistake Mr. Hapner, you haven't qualified for the next round after all."

"Wh-what? But you said –"

"Forget what I said, there's obviously been some sort of screw up in communication. We were told that you had been successful in keeping all of your treasures, not just your flag. In order to progress to the next level you must be able to show us at least three treasures in addition to your flag. So I'm sorry Mr. Hapner, but we're going to have to return you to your camp empty handed."

Nick was impressed, and slightly perturbed, by how well Warrick was able to lie under pressure. Apparently he didn't just have musical talent – the man could act as well.

Nick watched as the blindfolded Hapner stuttered out a couple of protests before calming down, seemingly hesitating at what to say next.

"I'm so confused," he muttered, pulling his knees up to his chest, "I don't know if you're telling me the truth – I was just supposed to… nothing – I…"

Nick and Warrick exchanged curious glances and turned back to Hapner. He wasn't talking anymore, but he was breathing very loudly.

"Is there something you want to tell us, Mr. Hapner?"

"Do you think we're even going in the right direction?" Sara asked as she crawled over a large fallen log and came to a stop on the other side.

"To be honest, we could end up in Vegas for all I know," Grissom grimaced as he followed her path over the log.

Sara looked around and sighed, "Well, I'd say that this place looked familiar but I couldn't be sure…" she trailed off as she looked more intently at their surroundings. "Wait a minute, I think I recognise th-" a hand over her mouth cut her off and she quickly turned around to face Grissom.

He brought a finger up to his lips and looked at her seriously. She nodded and he slowly took his hand away from her mouth to rest it on her arm.  He cocked his head to one side and Sara realized that he was listening for something.

After a moment, Sara heard it too – footsteps, and they were getting louder. They quickly glanced at each other and then looked nervously around for a place to hide. Every possibility had a down side – a bush was too small, a tree was too open, the fallen trunk was too obvious.  In the end they decided to climb one of the bushiest trees, hoping that if by some small chance whoever was coming towards them did look up, then the foliage would serve as a makeshift camouflage too.

They arrived in the treetops just in time.

There was four of them, all carrying packs on their backs and a bucket of water in each hand. Sara was surprised at how stealthily they moved, despite the occasional scraping of feet. When they reached the fallen log, the leader slowed down and turned to his friends.

"Feel like a rest for a bit?" he asked.

One of them grunted a response, another shrugged her shoulders. The third pondered for a moment, "We should be getting back, if we want to hit them tonight we'll need to get everything ready and have as many people ready for spy duty as possible."

The leader sighed, "Okay, fine, but just so you know if we need to run at all tonight my feet are full of blisters – why'd we have to come in such a round about way anyway?"

The female snorted, "It was your bloody idea Ethan."

Ethan frowned and continued walking, "Right, right" he mumbled to himself, the rest of the team following close behind.

Grissom turned to Sara and raised an eyebrow at her. Up in the tree, Sara could see the river in the distance, in the opposite direction to which their enemy team had just departed. She sighed wistfully at the view, thinking of her comfortable sleeping bag in their sheltered little hideaway. Turning back to Grissom's silent question, she rolled her eyes and grinned.

"Come on then, can't let an opportunity like this pass us by," she said and began slipping down the tree.

Grissom clumsily followed her and once he reached the ground they set off after their prey.

"We did some theorizing," Hapner began. "We figured that if, or when, we found a team we should try and get numbers on our side by using stealth at first to kidnap certain members of the enemy team.  Then when we went in with full force they would be confused and have less numbers to guard their treasures. Then we decided that if we had thought of this method of attack we probably weren't the only ones."

Warrick and Nick glanced at each other with wide eyes.

Hapner continued, "So we got our story straight. If we were kidnapped then we'd say all our treasures were taken. The remaining members on the team will be on full alert now that I've gone – when you return me to my base they'll be spying on you – all the way back to your camp. But, you guys would have to be extremely good at this game – I mean pretending to be competition officials is one thing but you guys just sound so official.  If there really is a next level then I'd really love to go there and win some extra points."

Warrick gulped down the bubble in his throat, "Well, a nice story Mr Hapner, but like I said previously – you cannot progress to the next level until we have seen at least three of your treasures plus your flag."

"I can get those for you," Hapner said determinedly.

"Without the rest of your team knowing?" Warrick asked, a hint of challenge in his voice.

"Well, yes. But why?"

"Part of the next level, and winning extra points, is based on how your team reacts to the events we are putting into place," Warrick lied evenly.

Hapner was quiet for a moment, obviously trying to work out whether or not to trust the confident voice above him. "Okay," he said finally, "We should go at dusk."

Grissom and Sara watched in a silent state of shock from their vantage point in one of the highest trees in the forest as the fourth, and still unidentified team in the Outward Bound competition surrounded their camp.

"We have to warn them," Sara said finally.

"We have to be smart," Grissom replied, "We can't panic."

Sara watched as the 6 individuals each reached their intended points and stood, waiting.  On their journey through the forest Grissom and Sara had overheard the enemy team's plan.  It was only when they reached their destination that they realised the intended target of the attack was in fact _their_ base camp.

Grissom glanced at his watch. The intended time of the raid was in the early hours of the morning – they still had plenty of time to figure out a plan.

He stared intently at the enemy teams' positions, realizing that they had worked it out so that no one could walk in or out of the Vegas camp without any one seeing them. But there had to be a way of warning the others – their scout on lookout in the tree! Maybe they could make some sort of flare, a roaring flame in the sky. That would alert them, and the scout would definitely see it – it wouldn't give them any details or ideas about what was going to happen, but it would certainly alert them. He frowned, surely there had to be a better solution than that? He looked at Sara who was deep in concentration, and suddenly her features lightened and the hint of a smile graced her face.

"What?" Grissom asked hopefully.

"The river," she stated simply.

Grissom looked at the river and suddenly realised what she was saying. The river was the only path in and out of their camp that didn't have anyone stationed on it. He grinned at her – brilliant.

"We can go in and they wont even realize we're there," he said.

"And we can get everyone out without them realising they've gone," Sara nodded.

"We'll have to be careful, but it just might work Sara."

"Of course it will," she grinned.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N - Two chapters within a couple of days? Surely not! Don't get used to it kids, I don't want to make any promises I end up breaking. Hope you all enjoy this one. Thanks once again to Ash and Amorith and all those who review!**

**Thursday - Day 5, 16.47**

"We could radio them," Sara said suddenly, turning to Grissom.  They'd been sitting in the tree for hours, watching their friends and their enemies and waiting until the first sign of darkness to sneak in. The guards posted around their camp had started an organised patrol, a patrol that would continue into the night and make it very hard for anyone to walk through that part of the forest without being seen or heard.

Grissom shook his head, "You didn't hear what one of the guy's said when we were following them earlier?"

Sara shook her head.

"They heard us before, Sara. On the radio – when we were talking to Warrick. Do you remember how careless we were, what we said?"

Sara thought back to the conversation and closed her eyes as the words came to her mind.

_"We're going to wait for a bit more light and then try and navigate our way to the river, we'll contact you…"_

"They knew we were along the river – they just had to figure out where," Sara stated miserably.

Grissom nodded, "I wonder how much else they know about us from that conversation. They'd know that some of us aren't there – that our numbers are down."

"That we're interrogating someone – not hard to figure out it'd be someone from another camp… and… what are we supposed to do about _them_ Grissom? I didn't even think of that… How are we supposed to get out stealthily when we've got a prisoner?"

Grissom frowned and looked back towards their camp. He noticed some movement and sat up straighter, squinting into the distance to see three ragged-looking people leaving the camp.

"They're taking him back," Grissom said, "They must be taking him back."

Sara squinted at the figures, "Is that Warrick and Nick?"

Grissom nodded, "Has to be – and the prisoner. They must be taking him back to his camp, we could cut them off and warn them!"

Sara looked doubtful; "One of us should keep an eye on things here."

Grissom looked about to protest but as he glanced back at the guards surrounding their remaining two friends he sighed his agreement. There wasn't much he could do if they did decide to attack but he couldn't just leave them there.

"I'll go and find Warrick and Nick," Sara said, "I'm positive I know where I'm going."

Grissom raised his eyebrows, "Like you were last night?"

Sara glared at him, "You know that was your fault."

Grissom feigned mock offence, "_My _fault?" He sighed and pretended to think, "Okay – well, just think if we hadn't got lost we wouldn't be in any position to save our team from being raided and attacked now would we?"

Sara grinned and shook her head, "Sure," she mumbled, "This position is a stroke of luck," she added sarcastically.

She began untangling herself from her branch and began to make her way towards the trunk of the tree.

"Sara?" Grissom called, causing her to turn to him once she had reached the centre of the tree, "Be careful."

She leaned in and kissed him on the lips, grinning all the way down the tree at the slightly shocked, yet happy expression he gave her in return.

Dashing through the trees as fast as she could, Sara hoped to God she knew where she was going. From her position in the tree that she'd been sharing with Grissom she could see the path that she'd wanted to take but now she was on the ground and surrounded by the thick forest, she had to admit that she was only guessing that she was sprinting in the right direction.

She hurdled a log and continued running, a small grin forming on her lips. She was high on adrenalin and she liked it. She'd kissed Grissom – twice. She was now running through the Canadian wilderness in a desperate search for Nick and Warrick, trying to save her team from invasion. She'd kissed Grissom – twice!  She almost couldn't notice the ache in her hamstrings or the pounding in her chest. She could run like this forever! But, she realized, she had to slow down soon. She was coming to the place where she'd wanted to intercept Nick and Warrick.

She slowed down and came to a stop, crouching next to a tree and turning towards the direction she expected to see her friends appearing from.

After a couple of minutes she began to wonder if she had been too slow and missed them, but the low shuffling of feet coming her way eased her mind. As a precaution, she straightened up and hid behind the tree. It was big enough to hide her whole body and she had to poke her head around the side to keep an eye on the approaching visitors.

Still high on adrenalin, she almost came bounding out from behind the tree and into Nick's arms as soon as she heard his voice but quickly remembered that they had company and that she would have to be careful. Instead, she simply moved in front of the tree and waited for them to come into view.

They didn't noticed her at first, but when they did their reactions were so comical Sara couldn't help but snigger at them. Warrick did the biggest and most pronounced double take she'd ever witnessed and almost tripped over his own feet, while Nick jumped about 5 feet in the air after wondering what Warrick had seen.  The blindfolded man in between them stumbled at the sudden shift in motion, but seemed non-the-wiser.

Warrick continued walking, albeit it a little slower, and looked at Sara with a raised eyebrow.

She mouthed, 'We need to talk – now!' and he nodded his understanding.

"Hang tight Mr Hapner," he said to the blindfolded man, "I have to go use the facilities."

Nick found his feet and moved up next to Hapner and silently agreed to keep an eye on him while Sara and Warrick had their discussion.

When they were far enough away, Sara filled Warrick in on the details.

"You're kidding right? This is some kind of joke?" Warrick said hopefully.

Sara shook her head, "War, we have to get back there and get out as soon as we can - otherwise we're going to lose this thing."

Warrick sighed and looked back at Nick and Hapner, "What do we do with him?"

Sara shrugged, "You were taking him back to his camp weren't you?"

"His friends are basically waiting for us so we convinced him to sneak in and bring us back some treasures…"

Sara looked at him doubtfully.

"It's a long story," Warrick sighed again and looked around anxiously, "You don't suppose any of the other team followed us out here do you?"

"They looked pretty comfortable closing in on our camp, there's no reason for them to move. Whatever we decide to do, we better do it quick – I just don't like the thought of Catherine and Greg all alone back there."

Warrick nodded, "Okay look, Nick and I will continue on with this guy to try and get some more treasures – you go back with Grissom and make sure the others know what's going on. Get them ready to leave. Nick and I will try and meet you back at the camp before the raid."

Sara nodded, "You'll use the river?"

Warrick nodded and looked back towards Nick when they heard his impatient cough. Nick raised his eyebrows at them and Warrick nodded at him.

He turned back to Sara and slung an arm around her neck, bringing her into an awkward hug, "We'll see you soon – good luck!"

Sara grinned at him after he pulled back and went to join Nick again. She waved to Nick as she watched them set off and then quickly turned around and began her sprint back to Grissom.

Sitting in the tree and watching his camp in such a dangerous position was making Grissom nervous.  He was becoming increasingly aware of the fact that they now only had two people there – one up a tree on lookout, and one guarding the treasures in their cave. And he realized, with a lurch in his chest, that the enemy group had realised the same thing as well. One of the spies had left his position and was currently have a discussion with one of his friends. Grissom knew they were making a decision about whether they should wait until dark and risk more people in the camp or whether they should take advantage of the weakened side.

Slightly panicked, Grissom left his position in the tree and slid down the tree. Trying to devise some sort of plan and watch where he was going at the same time, he began to sprint towards his camp. He figured that his presence would throw them off a little, and make them slightly uneasy at least. So he rushed on towards the camp, making no effort to be quiet – in fact he wanted to be heard.

When he reached their sentry tree he wasn't surprised that Greg was looking down at him with a startled expression on his face.

"Greg!" he called and bent over, catching his breathe, "Hows it going?"

Greg practically jumped at the volume with which Grissom was talking and couldn't help but look at him as if he were nuts. Their roles had suddenly reversed. "Shhh! What are you trying to do? Wake up the sleeping kids over in Africa!?"

Grissom didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Relax Greg! There isn't anyone around, in fact why don't you come with me back to the cave?"

Greg was confused, but immediately alerted – something was wrong. "Grissom?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, yeah why don't you ring the bell to let Catherine know you're coming down." Grissom said, unsure as to how much of the conversation the enemy spies would hear.

"Ring the bell?" Greg asked, clearly confused. The bell was for emergencies only; he was only supposed to ring it when someone from another group was near… His eyes widened and he nodded his understanding, "Okay, okay."  He pulled on the rope that would ring the bell back in the cave where Catherine was and quickly began to climb down the tree. He jumped the last couple of feet and, without turning to look at Grissom, began a brisk walk back to the camp.

Catherine was ripped out of her daydream when she heard the bell near the entrance of the cave begin to sound. For a moment she simply looked at it, confused as to why it would be ringing, and then the realization hit and she sprung quickly to her feet.

Her breath quickened immediately as she began to pack up the various belongings that littered the cave floor.  In the few days that the group had spent there, it had become a fairly homely place, which was nice when everything was fine, but a bitch to pack up in a hurry.

For a fleeting moment she wondered whether Greg was playing a joke with her and swore that if he was, she would kill him, but when he arrived at the entrance to the cave followed closely by Grissom (who looked extremely haggard and out of breath) she knew they were in trouble.

"Gil!" she said, continuing to shove as much as she could into the pack in her hands, "What's going on? Where's Sara?"

They both began to help Catherine pack up while Grissom explained what was going on.

"They'll be confused by what to do after seeing me at first, but I think they might figure out that we know," Grissom said.

"They'll attack earlier," Greg stated and sent Catherine an apologetic grin as he heard her anxious groan.

Grissom nodded, "That's what I think."

They had almost gotten everything packed up, soon all they would have to do is wait and hope that Sara reached Warrick and Nick in time to tell them what was happening.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N Breathe everyone, breathe. Yes, I've updated. My apologies for the delay, life is… well I'm very busy so I hope you can all forgive me. I hope you all enjoy this chapter; you can let me know just how much by reviewing! Thanks once again, beautiful betas Amorith and Ash.**

**Thursday - Day 5, 19.13**

The sun had already set behind the tree-lined horizon, making Sara's return journey a slower one. As it began to get darker and darker, she began to panic that she was going in the wrong direction and wouldn't be able to find Grissom again.  When she reached the place she had left him in, and realized he wasn't there, she felt an incredible loss and worry engulf her. Where was he? Had he been captured and kidnapped or had he simply gone on to warn Greg and Catherine ahead of her? Was she even at the right tree? She forced her insecurities away and took a deep breath. She was at the right tree, she knew that. Was she expected to wait for him? She looked around at the growing darkness and shivered involuntarily. Stuff that, she thought and shook her head. She got her bearings and started off towards where she knew her camp to be.

Nick and Warrick stood as close to the Toronto camp as they dared, both shivering from the cold and feeling anxious. They had let Hapner go in alone, deciding to trust him to bring them back a couple of treasures.  After they had them, the plan was a little foggy. It involved running – and lots of it, but that was as far as they had gotten.

It was completely dark now, and Hapner had been gone a while. Nick had begun to fidget and shuffle his feet in an attempt to get warm while Warrick blew on his hands and kept crouching down and standing up again.

"What do you think? You think he's made us?" Nick whispered finally.

"I don't know," Warrick replied honestly and then jumped a little as he heard a branch crack not too far away.

Nick had heard it too and turned abruptly towards the sound. "I don't like this, man," he said quietly, "I feel exposed waiting around like this."

Warrick couldn't agree more, but he couldn't think of any other way. If they were going to win this game, they had to take risks – and tonight was full of them.

To his relief, the familiar voice of Hapner whispered through the air, "It's me – where are you?"

Instead of answering verbally, Warrick cleared his throat and heard the light shuffle of feet coming in their direction. Hapner appeared to be alone.

"Okay," he whispered when he finally reached them, "Some one must have taken the flag down after I was taken away by you guys, but I brought an extra treasure – is that good enough?"

Nick couldn't help the grin that appeared on his face, but since they were in almost complete darkness it didn't matter.

"Let's see them, Mr Hapner," Warrick said pompously.

Hapner crouched down on the ground and began to take out various possessions from his pockets. "Here we have the wind chime, you only gave us this because it was noisy didn't you? And the, er, Shakespeare play – what was the idea behind that? Anyways, I also brought one of the water bottles and the rope."

Warrick and Nick reached for the treasures and a twig snapped somewhere near to them.

All three of them turned around, trying to ascertain where the noise came from. Nick was immediately nervous and began to fight the urge he had to simply run away as fast as he could. Warrick, on the other hand, was suspicious. He looked at Hapner's small smile in the glint of the moonlight and scowled.

"We told you not to tell anyone," he rumbled in a low voice.

Hapner smirked widely, "Wouldn't _you?_"

Warrick grabbed the treasures in front of him, cursing at the noisy wind chime as he thrust it into Nick's hands and stood up quickly. Nick didn't need telling – he ran, Warrick not far behind.

The river was penetratingly cold and Sara had to use all her will power in order to make herself enter it. It wouldn't have been half as bad if she was able to take a big running leap and belly flop into it, thus getting the pain over and done with in one single moment, but the noise it would have produced made Sara uneasy about alerting the enemy spies who were lurking somewhere nearby. So Sara had to grit her teeth and bear with the agonizingly slow process of inching into the water. When she finally made it to the middle of the river, she was pleasantly surprised that there was a slight current in the water pulling her gently towards her camp. All she would have to do was lay back, keep afloat and wait for her cave to come into view.

It didn't take long for Sara to realize that the current in the water was stronger and faster than she had first thought, for it was only about ten minutes later that she realised the cave was a few yards away. Navigating her way across the water, she managed to come to a stop just outside the mouth of the hollow they'd been living out of.

Catherine jumped so high she was in danger of hitting the roof of the cave with her head. "Sara!" she breathed out as the waterlogged figure of the brunette emerged from the water. Catherine quickly came to her senses and reached into one of the hastily packed backpacks for a blanket to drape around her shoulders.

Sara was shivering – the cold and excitement sending non-stop vibrations through her lanky frame. She grinned at Catherine and thanked her before darting her eyes around the rest of the cave. She relaxed considerably when she saw Grissom walking towards her, arms outstretched. For a moment, she thought he was going to pull her into a hug and display some affection in front of Catherine and Greg, but the most he did was grab her shoulders and ask her if she was okay.

"I'm fine – where were you? I thought you were going to wait for me? I didn't know what had happened Grissom!" Her tone wasn't accusatory, but it depicted her worry well enough.

"I know I'm sorry," Grissom sighed and let his hands drop to his sides, "I saw they were going to move in and I couldn't just sit there and watch… I thought you'd come back with Warrick and Nick – what happened?"

Sara explained what had happened with Nick and Warrick as the four of them sat down and waited. Everything had been packed up and waterproofed as best as possible, now all they had to do was wait for the rest of their team to arrive before they were raided.

It was unnerving, sitting there in the quiet simply waiting to be invaded. Obviously the enemy team wouldn't _hurt_ them, although Grissom was sure things would get physical once they started happening.

"What's taking them so long?" Greg finally asked no one in particular.

Sara shook her head, "I don't know."

Catherine sighed nervously and darted her eyes outside the cave for the 20th time in a minute.

"You thinking something Cat?" Sara asked, watching her.

Catherine nodded, "We should leave here, take our treasures down the river – one of us can stay here and wait for Nick and Warrick but it's just too dangerous sitting around and waiting."

Grissom nodded his agreement, "I think you're right, who wants to stay?"

"Wait a minute," Sara said anxiously, "If someone stay's and the other team do come in here – they're going to be taken for sure. They'll be taken and then Nick and Warrick will turn up to an empty cave and have no idea where any of us are."

It was a predicament – a problem with no right answer and the four CSI's looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Grissom for his say.  He always hated being supervisor – why was everything immediately his decision? But then Greg spoke up.

"I'll stay – I'll take cover in the bushes just outside the cave and wait for Nick and Warrick. You guys go down the river until you reach this spot here," he pulled out a map and pointed to a place along the river. "This is just before the rapids get pretty nasty and it's also fairly close to the pick up zone we have to get to the day after tomorrow."

"Greggy…" Catherine started but stopped at the determined look he gave her.

"Trust me, we'll be okay," he said.

"Greg are you sure?" Grissom asked, studying the younger man for any signs of false bravado.

Greg looked back at Grissom, slightly impatient, "Yes. Now go on before this team raids us already!"

They all stood up and began to move the packs into the water. They had tied them all together so that there wasn't any chance of one floating away by itself.  Once they had loaded everything into the water, Grissom, Catherine and Sara made sure that Greg was well hidden inside the bushes close to their cave entrance. Finally, it was time to depart. Grissom gave Greg a pat on the shoulder and began to sink slowly into the water, gasping a little at the icy temperature.

Sara kissed him on the cheek and winked at him, "See you soon Greggo."

Catherine gave him a warm hug and whispered something in his ear that made him blush and dart his eyes towards Sara before disappearing into the shrub again.

"Lets go," Catherine whispered to Sara and the two of them made their way into the river.

Grissom was already in the middle with the packs, which were floating just below the surface of the water.

Catherine and Sara reached out to grab the packs and together the three of them began floating soundlessly down the river.

Warrick galloped blindly through the forest, jumping logs and jerking suddenly away from the trees that loomed up at him when he was barely a foot away. He could hear Nick behind him, puffing and gasping almost as loudly as he was. He could also hear the clanking of the wind chimes Nick carried and the occasional shouting of directions from their close followers. Occasionally, a beam from a flashlight would pass in front of him and catch his eye making him jerk in the opposite direction.  The Toronto team seemed to be everywhere.

He knew he was going gradually towards the river – but it was taking an incredibly long time. In the back of his mind, Warrick knew that running straight for the river was a bad idea and that once they reached the cool and murky water they wouldn't be able to get away from their hunters.  They had to lose them before they reached the river; otherwise they risked exposing the whole Vegas team to the chase and ruining any chance of a silent escape.

Grasping the treasures he held more tightly, Warrick surged forward.

Behind him, Nick grunted.  He was easily a faster runner than Warrick was so keeping up with the man in front of him was no problem.  It was a problem when Warrick suddenly shifted directions unexpectedly, causing Nick to jar his ankles in order to follow him or smash his shoulder into the trunk of a tree if he wasn't quick enough to move.

Nick was well aware of the time it was taking them to get back to the rest of the group. The few treasures that the two of them held would be worth next to nothing if their camp was raided before they had a chance to leave. Nick hated the thought that they might be hanging around waiting for him and Warrick and putting the team's chances of winning in jeopardy. He hoped that they'd worked out a way to get the treasures out of the cave and into safety.

Soon the shouting voices around them had faded into nothing and the lights from the flashlights were long gone. Warrick felt himself slowing down and gradually came to a stop, gulping the fresh night air into his lungs. He turned and saw that Nick was doing the same and gave his friend and tired but genuine grin.

"That was… intense," he breathed out and looked around them.

Nick swallowed deeply and nodded, grinning boyishly back, "You can say that again!"

Warrick breathed out a sigh and squinted into the darkness, "Which way do you think the river is?"

Nick raised his eyebrows, "You don't know? You were navigating I thought you had it under control?"

"I do bro, I just wanted to make sure," Warrick said.

"Okay," Nick sighed and looked around, "For some reason I'm thinking that way," he pointed to his left and looked at Warrick.

Warrick grinned, "Not bad Stokes, not bad," he slapped Nick on the shoulder and started walking in the direction Nick was pointing. "You noticed we were gradually going up hill then?"

Nick started to follow his companion, "My calves noticed," he winced and bent down to rub the lower half of his left leg before straightening up again and jogging off after Warrick.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N Once again, thanks heaps to Ash and Amorith, and to all the wonderful people putting up with my long breaks between updates and who continue to read and review, you guys rock.**

**Friday - Day 6, 00.07**

The water had frozen Grissom, Catherine and Sara to the bone. All three of them had given up trying to stop their teeth from chattering long ago and had ended up drifting closer together in an attempt to preserve the little heat they held between them.

"Maybe the river wasn't such a brilliant plan after all," Sara whispered and attempted a smirk.

Catherine coughed out a small laugh, "This money we're winning better be worth getting pneumonia for… how much do we get anyway Grissom?"

"Half million," Grissom croaked out and wiggled his legs to keep the blood pumping through them.

Sara and Catherine looked at each other and laughed, "Half a million?" Catherine breathed out, "I am _so_ getting an office out of this."

"I was thinking we could get a new microviper…" he said wistfully.

"Whatever happened to old-school Grissom?" Sara asked, grinning.

"He left when he first picked up a microviper," Grissom said seriously.

Catherine hummed under her breath, "I still expect an office for doing this."

They continued to float down the river, occasionally leaving the packs and swimming some strokes to try and get warm. After what seemed like hours, Catherine finally looked around and pulled out the waterproof map Greg had given her.

"I think we're close," she said, studying the lines in front of her in the moonlight, "the river gets narrower here, just before it widens out again and the rapids begin."

They began to drift towards the bank of the river, pulling their packs along with them. Stiffly, they crawled out of the water and onto the cold, muddy banks. Sara couldn't remember the last time she had felt this exhausted, reasoning that with the lack of food she'd had, the cold water she'd been sitting in for hours, and the sudden adrenalin drop she'd experienced since entering the cave after her sprinting it was really no wonder she was so tired.

She knew she had to move, that they all had to get up and find a place to camp and get out of the wet clothes that were clinging uncomfortably to their bodies but the urge to simply bury herself into the mud and fall asleep was overwhelming.

Suddenly she was emotional and as she turned to look at her friends who looked just as pathetic and broken as she felt, she realized that she wasn't the only one.

The image she saw of Catherine and Grissom that night would never be replaced, she promised herself. Grissom sat next to the water, holding onto the packs that they had not yet managed to drag out of the water. Being waterlogged, the packs now weighed a ton and both Catherine and Sara had unintentionally left the job of hauling them out to Grissom. Grissom was tired though, and merely sat there holding onto them, looking glaze-eyed out over the river, yet still determined he would not let their packs float away.

Catherine looked buggered, lying with her clothes and face now covered in mud. This was definitely a different Catherine to the one Sara was used to seeing. She liked this Catherine, although she had always suspected her female colleague to be more into roughing it than her expensive clothes and sophisticated character implied.

Despite her weariness, Sara grinned and sat up. She sighed loudly, the sound apparently waking both Catherine and Grissom out of their respective dazes. Grissom began to stand up as Catherine struggled to roll onto her back and look up at the night sky. Feeling ten times heavier than she actually was, Sara rose and reached out a hand to help her friend up. Catherine took it gratefully and after a great heave, the two women were standing and helping Grissom drag the heavy packs out of the water and into the surrounding forest in search of a new campsite for their team.

Nick and Warrick watched, thunderstruck, as the enemy team walked in and around their former camp. They were both shivering, from cold or fear, on the other side of the river, hidden from the enemy and their sharp flashlights.

"It doesn't look like anyone's there," whispered Warrick.

"Good, that means our treasure's are safe," Nick said, happy that the others had not waited around for them.

"Yeah, but how do we find Grissom and the others?" Warrick asked.

"They probably left some kind of sign for us," Nick whispered back.

"Well, we better get it before they do – don't you think?" Warrick said as he began to move through the water towards the side their cave was on.

Nick's eyes darted towards the cave and noted the team retreating. Only two remained, they were still snooping around and looking suspicious. Nick grinned to himself, they must be awfully disappointed to find the cave empty, he thought. And pissed off. One of them had just kicked the side of the wall in anger.

Nick bit back his laugh and stealthily followed Warrick closer to their cave.

As they got closer, Nick had noticed that one of the bushes just outside the door of the cave was moving oddly, as if something was in it. As he wondered what wild animals travelled around the forests of Canada and began to imagine lake eels swimming up his pant legs, the two enemy team members also noticed the bush. The taller one tapped his friend on the shoulder and pointed silently to the bush as they crept slowly towards it.

Warrick and Nick (who forgot momentarily about the imaginary eels) watched curiously as both of the men stopped abruptly, and then pounced viciously into the bush, coming back out to produce a wild, carnivorous, annoyed…Greg. A tired – and livid – Greg Sanders who struggled angrily against the two men.

"Well well well!" one of the men said and laughed, quite obviously pleased with himself.

Greg said nothing, merely grunted and continued to struggle against the two bigger men. He was doing not too badly when Nick realized Warrick had lifted himself out of the water and was galloping towards the small group to try and help Greg. A split second later and Nick was at his side, taking the unknown men (and Greg) by surprise. Warrick easily overpowered one of them, who had begun to shout out to his mates who had already begun their journey back to their own camp. Warrick clamped his hand over the mans mouth and struggled to get him to the ground, kneeling on him as he watched Greg and Nick chase and catch the other man who had begun to flee as soon as he knew he was outnumbered. They dragged him down next to his teammate, Greg sitting on his back to keep him there.

"Grab the treasures Nick!" Warrick croaked to his friend, who was one step ahead of him and already running towards the small pile of treasures they'd dropped before the struggle. Nick sprinted back to the cave entrance and dropped the pile next to them before tearing open an enemy pack and emptying it. There were no treasures, but they did have rope and some material they could use as gags.

The three men set to work on the two strangers who were both furious and humiliated. It was only when Nick, Warrick and Greg had them tied together and gagged that they were able to acknowledge their reunion.

"Hey Greg," Warrick grinned as he hastily picked up the treasures and shared them with his friends, "I take it you're our guide?"

Greg grinned as Nick slapped him fondly on the back, "Follow me."

Leading them away from the river so as to trick their witnesses, Greg bounded determinedly along – Nick and Warrick happy to follow.

Sara, Catherine and Grissom sat huddled around the new campfire, partly naked under the blankets they held tightly around their bodies. After building the fire and setting up a small camp not too far from the river, the three of them had come to realize that only some of the contents of their packs had been made waterproof. The blankets had survived, along with some socks they suspected belonged to Greg (which they had all been oddly excited about). Catherine's spare pair of boots were okay and most of their sleeping bags were fine. They'd lined everything else up around the fire in the hopes of getting some of their clothes dry enough for them to wear.

Sara had to admit it was possibly the most bizarre moment of the whole trip; sitting almost naked, next to an equally almost naked Grissom and Catherine trying to get warm and dry by the small fire they'd been able to light. They were all so exhausted and intent on getting dry that it seemed almost normal, she just hoped there weren't any surprise raids because she didn't think she could handle rushing to pack everything up with Grissom running around in his boxers and Cath in her underwear. The mental image made her hum out a laugh and she glanced at Grissom who was staring at her. Embarrassed, and unreasonably suspicious that he knew exactly what she was thinking, she quickly turned away and began studying the fire.

After a moment where Sara felt oddly like a specimen under her boss's gaze he spoke up. "One of us will have to go back down to the river soon and wait for the others."

Sara turned to look at him, ready to volunteer, but he was now focussed on Catherine who seemed aware of his gaze too. She rolled her eyes, "Okay," she sighed good naturedly and pulled her boots on over a pair of Greg's fluffy socks, "since your boots were coincidently saturated."

Grissom smiled at her as she stood up and began picking up a random assortment of clothes whilst clutching her blanket around herself. "No peeking," she joked as she moved away to change.

Her clothes had dried up quite well, although they were still a little damp. She returned the blanket around her shoulders and, waving bye to Grissom and Sara (and smirking at the situation she was leaving behind), she began her small hike back down to the river to wait for the boys.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

A/N – So this is the Sara/Grissom chapter, a chapter that gave me many many headaches during the writing process. If you've read my other stories, you know I don't usually write this so any comments or suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated (even if it's 'stick to your day job'). Oh, and please please note the rating had to be changed…

Happy (belated) Birthday Amorith!

Friday - Day 6, 02.27 

Sara refused to look Grissom in the eye. She didn't really understand why, but suddenly she was _extremely_ nervous. She could feel Grissom's unwavering gaze on her as she continued to stare into the fire, glad that there was _something_ that she could pretend was interesting to look at.

The ground was damp from the rain they'd had the previous couple of days, but the sky was clear and the stars were bright with the occasional cottony cloud sweeping over the heavens. Grissom sighed audibly before clearing his throat, but Sara continued to find the campfire fascinating.

Mildly amused at her determination to _not_ look at him, Grissom gave a small smile to himself before rising slowly and setting himself down again directly next to Sara.

By reflex she turned to look at him and couldn't help the grin that spread across her face.

"So," she croaked out, looking at him expectantly. When his only response was to raise his eyebrows at her she sighed through her grin, "This is interesting."

Grissom hummed his agreement and finally turned his attention to the fire, Sara following suit.

"Sara," he said after a moment. Sara glanced at him and noticed a hint of anguish across his features as he searched for the words he wanted to say.

"Yes?" she tried not to sound too eager, but couldn't help the feeling of excitement and anticipation that ran through her.

Grissom sighed, "You really are okay aren't you?"

Sara didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She felt like doing both and didn't even realise that a small hiccup had escaped from within. She didn't know what she had wanted him to say, but she was disappointed he'd asked her that.

Pulling her blanket tightly around her she said, "I'm fine, really."

The silence that followed displayed to Sara just how much he didn't believe her, but Grissom wasn't the type of person to push someone into talking about something they didn't want to. It was one of the things she liked most about him; his unquestioning acceptance.

Her nervousness had dissolved into a small ball of annoyance in the centre of her stomach. How much more of this dancing could she take?

When she'd kissed him the first time, all those years ago, it had been desperate. They'd spent an entire semester building a friendship out of mutual respect and a not so secretly hidden desire for each other. She'd felt sure she'd never see him again once he stepped on that plane, or if she did it wouldn't be the same. She was right about that; it hadn't been the same. He'd come back a couple of times to take a few seminars and help the local criminalists with some bug-related emergencies and yeah, they'd gone out for coffee a couple of times but it had been obvious that since she lived in San Francisco and he in Vegas that it would only hurt more for them to start something.

When he asked her to help him in Vegas, she was excited. She knew that working for him would create a small obstacle for them, but was convinced that they'd find a way around it. After all, no one else had to know did they? She had anticipated the change she would see in him even less than the change she would feel in herself.

In San Francisco, everything had been innocent and fun and simple. When she got to Vegas, things were automatically complicated. She knew Grissom would never admit it, but when he became shift supervisor he'd become even more obsessed in his work and reserved from society. Gradually, and for no particular reason he could pinpoint, he'd come to loathe himself. Sara could relate to that. The same thing had happened to her. The only difference was that she would readily admit to herself that the reason they hated themselves so much was because of the mess they'd gotten themselves into regarding each other. He'd turned to his work and revelled in his own ignorance while she'd become emotionally involved with cases and fell into a depression. They'd been through so much in the past couple of years, wasn't it time for things to become simple and fun and innocent again?

Sara closed her eyes and cleared her mind, exhaling calmly. She turned to Grissom, who was staring at the fire intently, and studied him for a moment. Then she reached out a hand and found one of his. He jerked to look at her but she was looking at their hands; contrasted not only in size and shape, but also in colour and coarseness. She ran her thumb down his middle finger before interlocking her fingers with his. Heart pumping, she turned her face towards him and looked at him seriously.

He leaned in and kissed her, capturing her lips in his – unwavering and decidedly. Now was the time for a different kind of dance. Sara could only just hear the crackling sound of the fire and heaviness of their breathing over the pounding of her heart as Grissom slid off the small log, using it as a backrest and the ground as a seat. Leaning over, Sara placed her knees on opposite sides of his hip, breaking the heated kiss by straightening up and looking down at him. She studied his face, in shadow now that she was shielding it from the fire, and traced her thumb along the under side of his bearded jaw.

"Are you ready?" she asked almost warningly.

Her blanket was still around her shoulders, but the ends of it had found their way open and had come to rest on his own, giving him an open (albeit dark) invitation to her partially naked body. His eyes travelled down from her face as he took in the position they were in. It registered suddenly that the warm and silky feeling he was experiencing on his hips was actually Sara's inner thighs pressed firmly against his own body. Almost involuntarily, his right hand came to rest on her hip as his left found the back of her lower thigh. He looked back up at Sara and felt his heart lurch and breath catch as he recognised the emotion in her eyes. He knew what it was, because he felt it too. Fear. Hope. Determination. Desire. Lust. Love.

"Sara," he breathed before she descended towards him again. She pressed her body against his, revelling in the freedom to do exactly as she wanted. There were no promises made, but the thoughts and feelings of uncertainty about each other and the future began to ebb quickly away as they continued to explore each other's mouths and bodies.

It wasn't long before Grissom had breached the small barrier of clothing, slipping his fingers inside Sara's panties and making her groan into his mouth. She moved against him, bringing him deeper and more firmly into her as she reached down and touched him through his boxers. Sara was aware that they were entering dangerous territory, she wasn't on the pill and unless Grissom had a condom hidden away somewhere (which she highly doubted) they were going to have to stop soon. It just felt so good!

She let out another gurgled moan as he began to stroke her harder and quicker. Rational thought was tossed quickly away as Sara began to move against him, deciding in a moment of madness that she'd be able to stop before things got out of control. She heard Grissom's groans and realised she'd begun to match the pace he'd set (or was he matching the pace she'd set?) and that she was now stroking him without the confines of material. The blanket had long since slid off her shoulders and she could feel the warmth of the fire on her back as she began to shiver uncontrollably.

"Yes, oh God," she managed to choke out before her body erupted into spasms. She pulled her face from his and sighed as she looked up at the night sky, relaxed and happy. Grissom nuzzled her neck and pulled her closer, she could feel his length nudging her and groaned at the thought of him inside her. She began to lower herself onto him, grinning slightly when she heard him groan and hiss with pleasure. Their eyes met and Grissom leaned in to kiss her –

"OUCH!" a voice echoed through the surrounding trees, not too far away.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N Thanks heaps and heaps to everyone who's continuing to review, hopefully the next update wont be too far away! Thanks heaps to Amorith and Ash again, for being the wonderful beta's that they are.**

Friday - Day 6, 03.46 

"Are you alright Nicky?" Cath hurried over to where Nick had fallen to the ground. He struggled to his feet with a hand from Warrick and sighed.

"Who put that there anyway?" he asked and glared at the offending tree root and then winced loudly as he tried to start walking again. "Ow," he said exasperatedly and glared at the root again.

"What is it, your knee?" Warrick asked.

Nick nodded and began hobbling on again, "It's alright, you said it wasn't far right Cath?"

"Yeah should be just past these trees – you sure you're alright Nick, it looked like a nasty fall… Warrick you want to help him?"

Warrick gave Nick a mock glare before slinging Nick's arm around his shoulders and helping him move forward.

Catherine fell into step along side Greg who was looking at Nick with worry.

"I hope he's okay – we've still got a bit of a hike tomorrow to get to the meeting place," he said as they followed Nick and Warrick.

"We'll get there Greg," Catherine smiled reassuringly and patted him on the back.

When the foursome finally stumbled into camp they found Grissom sitting by the fire, hunched over and wrapped in a blanket. Sara was standing on the other side, also wrapped in a blanket. Catherine couldn't help but notice there was a very weird vibe between them.

"Hey!" called Sara in an overly surprised voice, "You made it then." She grinned at Greg, happy to see that he was alright despite their leaving him behind. Her smile faltered a little as she saw Nick hobbling over to the fire.

"What happened?" Grissom asked as Nick lowered himself onto a log by the fire.

"I think I just jarred my knee, it's been banged around a bit these past couple days," he grinned wryly.

"Man is it good to be back," Warrick sighed and sat down next to Grissom, "You got any spare blankets? I'm freezing."

"There's a couple just here," Catherine pointed to a small pile drying off next to the fire, "you'd probably be best to get out of your wet clothes and try to dry them by the fire before it starts to get light."

Greg came to stand next to Sara and grinned wildly at her. She frowned at him, paranoid that he had somehow guessed what she and Grissom had been up to. "What?" she asked nervously.

"Is that what you did? Took off your clothes because you were wet?"

Sara saw Grissom's head snap towards them out of the corner of her eye and glared at Greg.

He raised his hands, the gesture of surrender charred by his boyish grin, "That obviously came out wrong…" He giggled to himself before apologizing and went off to get changed.

As the group of six finally sat down around the fire together, wrapped in blankets and various pieces of dry clothing, Nick, Warrick and Greg told their stories of near capture and escape. Catherine secretly spied on Grissom and Sara while this was going on, trying to decide whether Grissom was grumpy because they had walked in on something or if Sara had said something to upset him while they'd been alone. Sara didn't seem nearly as annoyed as he did, but she did keep glancing at Grissom when she thought no one was looking at her. Catherine was intrigued and highly entertained with watching her two work colleagues and almost didn't notice when everyone became quiet and began staring at her.

"What?" she asked suspiciously.

Warrick snorted, "I think that's a yes," he said as he got up from the log he was sitting on and began to stretch his sore muscles.

"What?" Catherine asked again, a bit bewildered.

Nick grinned, "We were just saying it's high time we got some sleep. Considering you've been completely out of it this whole time we've been sitting here, I'd say you agree?"

Catherine nodded and cast a quick look at Grissom and Sara who were staring back at her. Suddenly paranoid that they knew exactly what she'd been doing she quickly got up and started helping Warrick set up the tarp under which they would sleep. The tents were still too wet to use, and the tarp was easier to set up and take down anyway.

Grissom offered to do first watch and as the rest of the group made their wary way towards their makeshift beds, Catherine didn't even notice that Sara had not joined them.

The small campfire was beginning to die as Sara came and sat down next to Grissom. They sat there in silence for a while, both waiting until they felt sure the others were either too groggy or asleep to pay attention to them.

Sara was the first to speak. "Hi," she said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Grissom gave her an amused glare and sighed as if he'd been holding his breath ever since the rest of their group had arrived at the campsite. He reached out and rested a hand on Sara's knee.

"Are you okay?" she asked, the quiet lilt still evident in her voice.

He hummed, "A little frustrated, but I'll be fine," he said, hiding his own small grin quite unsuccessfully. He shook his head at the situation, and decided to be serious for a moment. "Sara, if Nick hadn't fallen over that tree root…." He trailed off and looked at her pointedly.

"We would never have heard them coming and they would have walked into camp and seen it all," she finished for him and nodded. Although she had been bothered by that thought, it was the shock of her blatant 'throw caution to the wind' decision about their dilemma of no protection that had troubled Sara the most. She knew that if they hadn't been interrupted then she wouldn't have been able to stop in time, and that freaked her out.

"Grissom," she said and hesitated a little before continuing, "I'm not on the pill."

Grissom look confused for a moment and then his expression changed into one of understanding, "Oh!"

After an uneasy moment of silence he turned to her, "Why didn't you say something?"

She frowned, "Are you telling me you were thinking clearly enough to wonder about protection?"

Grissom paused for a moment and then looked at her, guiltily, "No."

Sara couldn't help grinning at him. She had absolutely no idea what was going to happen between them, but they were talking comfortably and openly enough. She could hardly believe what had happened between them since this trip started, but she was happy. She didn't care about what would happen when they got back to Vegas – in this moment, with Grissom's reassuring hand on her knee, she was happy.

"You should get some sleep," Grissom said to her and lightly squeezed her knee.

She turned to look at him, "Yeah, I should," she agreed.

When she made no effort to move but continued to study the man beside her, he sighed out a laugh and nudged her, "Go on – big day ahead of us Miss Sidle."

She grinned at him and slowly stood up, stretching in the same manner that Warrick had done previously. "Good night Grissom," she said before bending down and quickly kissing his temple.

It turned out to be more difficult for Sara to get to sleep than it should have been. She was terribly tired, but simply could not get to sleep. Before Grissom's sentry shift had finished, she was still awake, and volunteered to take over. After sitting by the fire for almost 2 hours and taking the occasional walk around the campsite, she was more than ready to jump back into her sleeping bag and try again. It seemed like it had only been ten minutes since she'd snuggled in beside Grissom and Nick when she was being gently shaken awake again. She groaned and weakly swatted at the person bent over her.

She heard Warrick chuckle and felt his hands around her wrists, preventing her from her flimsy attempt to push him away. "Come on Sara, a grand breakfast of granola bars awaits. If you're lucky you might get some luke warm tea."

She wrinkled her nose – tea wasn't exactly her drink of choice, but at the prospect of drinking something half warm she relented and squinted open an eye.

Warrick began pulling her up and finally she stumbled her way over to the rest of the group who were all looking way too awake for this time of day. What time was is anyway? She squinted at her watch as she sat clumsily on a log; 11am. Sara groaned and looked around her. Most of the campsite had been packed up with 6 relatively dry looking packs stacked neatly together in the centre. The only thing that remained was Sara's sleeping bag and mat that was now being rolled up by an enthusiastic Greg. Sara immediately felt guilty – she'd slept in.

"Sorry guys," she croaked out and continued to try and wake herself up, "You should have woken me sooner."

Warrick handed her a cup of almost-warm tea and sighed, "Sara, you did way more sentry duty than any of us, Greg didn't even get a go before it was time to start packing up and Grissom said you took over early for him. For that, you get a sleep in. Besides, it was only an hour," he smiled genuinely at her, making her feel a tiny bit better.

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

A/N – Thanks to everyone who continues to read the story and send me feedback even though the updates take forever. I'm on holidays now so the next shouldn't be too far away. Thanks once again to Ash and Amorith! Friday - Day 6, 13.23 

By midday the team had made slow ground, trekking alongside the river. Nick had made himself a walking stick but his knee still bothered him, making their journey slower and Nick more and more frustrated as the day went on.

When they stopped for an afternoon break, Nick announced that he would hobble on ahead to try and save everyone time. Since Grissom had informed them that they got extra points for getting to the meeting point by a certain time, he'd been intent on keeping up with the rest of the group – no matter how much pain he was in. The fact that Nick's knee was making their progress slower didn't seem to bother any of the rest of the group, and they had convinced him to take the rest with them and eat some food.

"You know what I've really missed?" Greg said as the group sat around a small clearing they'd come across. "Bread."

Warrick and Catherine groaned their agreement loudly.

"Soft, fresh bread," Warrick said, nodding, "And meat. First thing I'm doing when we get home is cooking up some steak."

Sara snorted at the hums of agreement followed by the guilty looks she received as they each remembered she was a vegetarian. "I've been having this craving for potatoes for the last three days," she admitted.

"I can't wait for a shower," Catherine confessed, "And you know, a couple of you could do with one as well." She looked pointedly at Greg who simply nodded and gave her a wink.

The mood of friendly camaraderie continued on into the early evening and later into the night when they had finally decided to stop and set up camp. They were still a fair way from the meeting place and had all but given up hope of earning the extra points from arriving there before noon the next day. Nick had apologized, but the others had waved it off, Grissom telling him they would have been hard pressed to make it even if his knee hadn't been hurt.

"Besides," added Greg, "We've done pretty good as far as stealing treasures is concerned, they'd have to be giving out a hell of a lot of points for any of those other teams to catch up to us now."

They sat around the small campfire they'd once again lit, toasting a surprise packet of marshmallows that Grissom had been saving.

"We've done very well," Grissom agreed modestly as he looked around at the small group of people huddled closely together. Deciding this was the time for his supervisory speech, he cleared his throat and went on. "You should all be very proud of yourselves. I think, even if we don't win this competition, we've all come away from this knowing each other a little better and with a clearer perspective on the things that really matter to us. I know I personally, have realized from being out here and away from civilisation that there are some things that aren't as important as I thought them to be. Likewise, there are other things I've come to realize that _are_ important. Like you guys," he said, swallowing hard before making himself continue. "I know I haven't always been the greatest supervisor in history and that I don't always let you all know how much I appreciate you as talented CSI's, let alone as _people._ But I do. I think you're the best group of people I've worked with, will ever work with and that each and every one of you is a truly special person. I am privileged to know you."

An excruciatingly painful moment of silence followed for Grissom as the rest of the group tried to digest the compliments he'd given them.

Finally, Nick spoke up. "Wow. Griss…" he laughed, "Thanks man," he leaned over and shook the hand of the now slightly embarrassed Grissom.

Greg followed Nick's lead and shook his hand also, "Thank you," he said, grinning.

Warrick slapped him on the back and handed him the last granola bar.

Grissom looked towards Catherine and Sara. Catherine nodded and smiled her approval at him and he gave her a slight grin in return. Sara was grinning at him also, the emotion in her eyes unable to be masked. They shared a meaningful glance before returning their attention back to the conversation that had started without them.

"So what happens when we arrive tomorrow?" Greg asked as he sipped at his cup of water.

"Well once all the groups have made it there we'll all have a chance of gaining more points for our teams – they were vague about the descriptions of how but I'm expecting both physical and mental challenges," Grissom informed them.

"Physical?" Nick asked slightly apprehensively.

"You'll be fine Nick, and it doesn't matter if we don't win the physical challenges anyway – we're the smartest group here," Sara grinned confidently.

Warrick laughed, "You got that right – but I'll run two times if it comes down to it buddy, you don't need to worry."

Nick grinned at his overly confident friends. He knew they were trying to cheer him up, and the thing he loved most was that it was working. He'd never felt closer to a group of people as he did at that moment.

Next to Sara, Catherine yawned loudly and smirked at the Mexican wave-like effect she produced within the group. Within a minute each of them had yawned at least twice signalling that it was more than time to get some sleep. Sluggishly, the group crawled into their sleeping bags, not even bothering with an overhead tarp, and all fell completely and deeply asleep.

**Friday - Day 7, 05.12**

They circled the dying glow of the campfire, spying out the sleeping group – oblivious and totally unprepared. Grissom was breathing deeply, heavily. He mumbled something incoherent – in his mind he was telling Sara that it was okay that the clowns didn't want their photographs taken, even though she was convinced it would be just the evidence they needed to convince the jury of the murderer's guilt. In his sleep, he sensed them closing in. They were going to take something away – steal something. Evidence. What case was he working? Where was he? His mind struggled, confused. And then he remembered. He was in Canada, playing a game. An important game. They'd all fallen asleep. Who was watching for spies? Who was protecting their treasures? Wake up, he told himself. You need to wake up now.

Like a drowning man finally breaking the surface of the water, Grissom awoke with a giant gasp and threw himself upright. He struggled to catch his breath, unable to subside the growing panic that raced throughout him. He turned wildly around, trying to see the people who had been spying on his team and then checked to see if the packs had been touched. They hadn't, and there didn't appear to be anyone around. His breathing began to steady and he realized Catherine was waking up next to him.

"What's going on?" She asked sleepily and squinted at him through groggy eyelids.

Grissom scanned the campsite again, reassuring himself that he had only been dreaming. He knew it was illogical, but he still felt like someone was watching them. It was early morning, a blue tinge blanketed their surroundings and the trees stood quiet and still, silhouetted against the early morning sky.

"Grissom?" Catherine asked again, a little more awake.

"We forgot a sentry," he said calmly, "I'll do it."

Catherine studied the man beside her and sighed. He was one of her oldest friends, yet in recent years they had grown so distant toward each other. She felt as if she hardly knew him anymore.

"I'll sit with you," she said and gave him a lopsided grin as he gave her a look of mild surprise.

"What about your beauty sleep?" Grissom asked innocently.

"Do you think I need it?" she asked, silently daring him to put his foot in his mouth.

Grissom smiled smugly to himself – no answer was most definitely the best answer in this situation.

Catherine rolled her eyes at him, but inside she was glad that they still had the ability to banter lightly with each other. It seemed to be a sign that their friendship was not so lost as she secretly feared.

"Besides," Catherine said, "It's almost time to get up anyway. We'll let the others sleep a little bit longer I suppose."

"As if we could," grumbled a muffled voice in the direction of Greg's exhausted frame, "with you two singing songs and dancing around the campfire."

"I'm going to really enjoy going back to sleeping in my own bed, in my own apartment, with absolutely no one else around," Nick mumbled sleepily. "For the first couple of days anyway," he added as an afterthought and heard Warrick snicker beside him.

Grissom raised his eyebrows at Catherine who grinned back at him before turning towards Sara. She poked her and heard a surprised groan in response, "What about you? You awake too?"

Sara opened her eyes and stared at the other woman, "Well if I wasn't before, I certainly am now – what do you do at the gym? Exercise your finger muscles? That hurt!"

Sara, thought Catherine, was most definitely not a morning person. She smiled sweetly at her before sighing dramatically and standing up.

"Well since we're all awake," she announced, "we may as well get up and start going."

Trudging over the forest landscape, Sara walked in step beside Greg, watching Grissom and Nick who were walking in front of them. The group had decided that Nick would set the pace for that day. With his knee feeling only slightly better, they realized that even with their early start they would not arrive at the rendezvous point in time to get the extra points. Grissom and Nick had been speaking in low voices, and Sara guessed that Grissom was using this opportunity to have his 'talk' with the Texan. It reminded her of the talk she'd been having with Greg down by the river a couple of days ago.

"So this person you go and talk to, about the explosion in the lab," she began and saw Greg turn to her in her peripheral vision, "Do you think I should go and talk to them?"

Greg was surprised she'd brought the subject up again yet extremely relieved that she was talking to him at all after his crack about her getting naked the other night. He'd been secretly scared that she'd taken a real offence to it.

"It's entirely up to you, Sara," he said seriously, "Personally I think it's really good to talk to someone about everything. And it's a stranger, and a professional – whatever you say to them, they don't judge you. And they actually help you too," he grinned. "I meant what I said though," he added, "if you don't want to talk to a stranger, you can talk to me. Anytime."

She turned to look at him, touched by the genuine smile he was giving her, and couldn't help but smile back at him.

They continued walking, slowly making progress towards their final destination.

TBC


End file.
